Son of Neptune
by Nomisaur
Summary: Percy can't accept Romans. Especially since they expect him to lead an impossible mission with people who have every reason to hate or be hated by him. On the plus side, he has a sister now, though whether that's good or bad is up to debate.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, I just found out about fan fictions last week-ish, so I'm late on the whole second Heroes of Olympus fan fiction thing, so sorry about that. I just turned twelve so if my vocabulary and/or grammar isn't that good, I also apologize for that beforehand. I'm starting off after the official chapter one of Son of Neptune (it's on Rick Riordan's website if you haven't read it yet), so technically it's chapter two, but oh well. It's mainly going to be in Percy's and his Roman friends' point of view, because I can't stand it when people think it's not going to be like that in the actual book just because Percy already had his own series. NO. So Rick Riordan spent five books and years of developing a character and his life and background just so he can ditch him for completely new characters that most fans would probably not like as much as Percy? Like I said before, NO. Sorry for the long note, but I like proving my points and being right. I might have mild OCD. Just kidding! ... Maybe… Anyways, enjoy!**

Chapter One:

**PERCY**

Jumping off a cliff with only a slightly Cheese 'n' Weiner stained silver platter, a backpack with most of its space taken up by a panda pillow pet, and a pen was probably not the smartest thing I'd ever done. Something from my fuzzy past also told me it was probably not the stupidest, either.

"Aaaaa—ack!" I sputtered, my terror-scream cut off by my gagging on rocks that sprayed up from my death-slide down the steep hill. They seemed to try and jump down my throat, and it probably would have hurt a lot, but the stones bounced harmlessly off my skin.

When I reached the bottom, I stumbled as I dismounted the plate, and then took off running, the hisses and sputters of the respectively smiley and blood-thirsty Beano and Euryale urging me on. I dashed into the highway tunnel, thinking, _Where the heck is this Roman place?_ I desperately looked around, my senses screaming at me, _It's right there! GO! _

"WE WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD, PERSEUS JACKSON!" Euryale howled, which I personally think was not helping herself at all. Why would you say that if it would only make me want to go faster?

A hobo across the fast-moving highway yelled at me to get off his territory or something. That brought a rather conspicuous and large crack in the side of the tunnel to my attention. The only problem was that it was on the other side of five lanes of highway, next to an aggressive hobo, and that the gorgons had descended the cliff.

_What happened to staying dead for at least two hours?_ I whined in my head. Then I braced myself and sprinted through a busy road.

"Excuse me, excuse me, don't kill me! AAAAH! Oh wait, never mind, sorry!" I yelped while causing cars to swerve and brake suddenly.

A fuming driver screamed at me "ARE YOU CRAZY?" (possibly, road rager, possibly)and then generally insulted my generation. Cough, _anger issues_, cough cough.

The boar-chicken-grandmas were running after me, closing in. So was the war-hobo, but I just shoved him out of the way and dove into the crevasse. _Please don't turn into an evil wolf den, _remembering who Lupa was, begging to no one in particular… or possibly someone… or really some_ones_ if someones is a word. Hmmm…

_Stop daydreaming about vocabulary!_ I snapped to myself. The gorgons stopped in front of the crack, with me trying solemnly stare back, but inside I was doing a happy-dance. _They can't get in!_ I thought gleefully. If they could, they would have definitely attacked me by now.

"Our patron shall rise, demigod, and you shall succumb to her might, along the rest of your kind and humanity." Snarled Euryale and Stheno simultaneously, which was creepy.

"Yeah, well you can go tell your patron to find some better servants because you guys really _sucked_. I mean, how long have you been chasing me? One demigod? Guessing from you guys, I wouldn't be too scared of this Gaea." I fired back, sounding waaaaaay more confident than I am. Just saying that name sent shivers of horror through my spine.

"You have not heard the last of us. We _will_ have our revenge, Jackson." The gorgon vowed, spite and hate emanating from her eyes. Then, the pair of nightmare grandmas loped away, my gaze following them to make sure they were gone. I turned around, suddenly feeling weary and exhausted.

The two people I saw were not very excited to see me.

"_Another_ one? He's so old I bet he's just a kid of some weak, minor god." An arrogant looking muscular guy, about 16, sneered at me. He was armored, with a broadsword on his hip and had brown hair with a buzz cut. His dark brown eyes glared at me.

"Shut up! Don't be so quick to judge, Dakota!" a curly-haired, athletic-looking blonde girl scowled at him. Like the Dakota guy, she had armor, but it was heavier and she carried a thinner sword and a shield. She turned to me and said more sympathetically, but still stiffly "Are you okay? Do you need food or medicine?"

Her fierce gray eyes pierced through the fog that was my past.

"You- you look like… Annabeth." I croaked. My vision blurred as half-formed memories and shadows tumbled through my mind. Voices floated somewhere near me, but they sounded slurred and unrealistic.

I blacked out.

**Did you like it? If you did, please review! I also forgot to say this is my first fan fiction, so yeah. I don't mind harsh comments, flames cook virtual bacon! Bacon is good! It helps to know if the people are out of character. The passing out thing was to make it more dramatic, so that's not really OOC. I think. I would also like some suggestions and tips, cuz' you know, I'm new and everything. Mythology stories are welcome! I have an idea in mind for a quest but some help is always great. Thanks for reading! If you thought it was REALLY good could you recommend it to friends? Hint hint wink wink :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me again! I just forgot to put in the disclaimer. I am certainly not Rick Riordan in any way, shape, or form. I own absolutely nothing about the series. Obviously.**

**Chapter Two:**

**DAKOTA**

"Can't—stop—laughing!" I gasped in between breaths. "This is pure gold! I get to tell everyone that wimpy over here fainted just from seeing your face! That raises the question; is he just that weak or are you just that horrible to look at?" I'm proud to say that I had a _completely _straight face when I said the last part. On the downside I'm probably going to suffer for that, but I have a hard time considering consequences.

Sophia glared at me. "Pick up the guy and let's go, you idiot."

Still chuckling, I slung the black-haired guy over my shoulder, firefighter style and began walking back to camp. Gross, his orange shirt was all torn up and covered with monster slime."Gods, he's heavy! What's he been doing on his way here? Eating bricks?"

"More like your just pathetically weak, Dakota." Sophia said, her face and voice one-hundred percent casual, like she'd just said, _Nice weather, huh? _or something.

I turned around to make a retort, but the insult was just a distraction. While I wasn't paying attention to my coordination, she tripped me, and as I fell forward, she caught the new kid and elbowed me in the face in one fluid motion without pausing and continued walking as if nothing happened.

"You deserved that."

"Yeah, probably…" I sighed, rubbing my bruised face. "That's still not going to stop me from telling everyone!" I continued cheerfully. Being a son of Mars didn't exactly give me the common sense to avoid insulting a child of Minerva. Oh well, I'll just have to live without it, as I have for pretty much my entire life.

We continued down the tunnel that wound inside the hill, ignoring the side tunnels meant for confusing invaders. They held many nasty surprises for those who are unfamiliar with this area. Eventually, we stepped out into the camp above, blinking in the sudden sunlight. I nodded to Bobby, who was guarding the entrance with one of my siblings. Bobby was a son of Mercury, and we'd been best friends ever since he started Legion Academy (which had been around five days after me). It was probably because he was as big of an idiot as me, or so everyone tells me. I personally think he's not, he's _more_ so than I am. He denies it. Whatever.

I looked out onto my camp and home. Two sides were right next to a bay, another was taken up by our forest that was infested with monsters (the forest eventually ended at the base of a giant cliff), and the last side was domineered by some more steep, large cliffs where the tunnel entrance came out of. Sophia and I walked towards the Fortress in the middle of the expanse, where Lupa usually stayed when not at her den. It was also an infirmary, an armory, a forge, and pretty much everything we needed if we were at war or besieged. I hoped we never had to use it in those circumstances ever again…

New kid stirred. Suddenly, he sprang off Sophia's shoulder, and crouched in a defensive stance. His green eyes blazed and he warily looked at us, like he was sizing me and Sophia up, which I thought was paranoid.

"Who are you? Where have you taken me?" He questioned.

"Don't you think it's strange that a guy who passes out from seeing a girl is interrogating _us,_ the great and almighty warriors of Rome? And also who's this Annabeth?" I laughed, possibly making us sound a tiny bit more awesome than some of us are. Not me, of course, but you know, like, Sophia.

Sophia glowered at me, as if she was guessing what I was thinking. Then she tried to pacify newbie. "It's okay, you're at Legion Academy. My name is Sophia and this is Dakota. We're here to help kids like you and me-"

"Demigods."

We stared at him. Sometimes Lupa told half-bloods about the gods immediately at the Wolf House, but nine out of ten times, they were still in utter denial. He, however, seemed totally calm and as if he accepted the facts long ago.

"Errr… yeah, demigods, half human, half god. You know how in the myths, the gods have a bunch of children with mortals? Not much has changed. For example, I'm a son of Mars and Sophia is a daughter of Minerva. So, when you were growing up, did you have only one parent or were you an orphan or something?" I asked, trying to narrow down the possibilities of who his godly parent was.

He frowned, as if he was concentrating hard. "I… I don't remember anything from my past. I remember all of my opinions things like that, but no personal experiences. I know my name is Percy Jackson. And… the only other thing I remember is Annabeth, and all I know about her is that she looks like you." He gestured to Sophia.

"Hmmm… that's odd. Lupa will help you. Maybe this Annabeth is a daughter of Minerva." Sophia said hopefully.

"Well anyway, let's go to the Fortress to find Lupa, so she can decide if you're strong enough, Percy," I said briskly, aware that we were wasting time.

"What? No! How do I know to trust you? And why does Lupa get to decide who is good or not?" Percy said, recoiling.

"Come on, it's not so bad," Sophia soothed, blatantly lying. Lupa was terrifying when you first meet her, not including the Wolf House meeting, of course. "You really don't have much other choice either." She pointed out as an afterthought.

_Of course, Percy-guy relents to Sophia but not me_, I think, five minutes later.

We walked pass the twelve cabins for the major gods that were surrounded by many silk tents of the minor gods, the smaller replica of the Coliseum, the dock, the forges, the arts & crafts building, shacks, and et cetera. I've always loved the look of awe on people's faces when they first see the Academy, but Jackson barely gave anything a second look, which I think is a little rude. He should bask in the camp's glory or something like that.

We stopped in front of the Fortress and its many floors decorated in an Ancient-Roman style. The doors opened by themselves, as usual, and I snuck a sideways glance at Percy. His face was an emotionless mask, but his body language betrayed the fact that he was on his guard.

My friend and I ushered Percy into the front room of the Fortress, which is huge, spacious, and dimly lit. Lupa's eyes glinted in the faint light in the middle of the room.

"Welcome Perseus Jackson."

**All reviews welcome! Even flames! Did you like Dakota? By the way, Sophia means wisdom in Ancient Greek, so I thought that would be a fitting name for a daughter of Minerva, even if she's Roman. Oh, and GO ARGENTINA! They played bad against Bolivia, but they're still gonna win the Copa America(I hope)! Go Messi!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I get to introduce Bobby in this chapter. This is kind of a boring chapter, but it leads up to a (hopefully) more interesting one.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns the Heroes of Olympus and Percy Jackson and the Olympians and pretty much everything about all of them. He's a really good author, and will write The Son of Neptune a lot better than I am right now.**

**Chapter 3:**

**PERCY**

"Welcome, Perseus Jackson."

The deep growl me on edge. I hadn't told anyone my full name yet, so her knowledge of myself unnerved me. I had a strong feeling that I didn't belong here ever since I set foot on the camp. Her cold greeting seemed to confirm exactly what I was feeling, and I wasn't even completely sure _what_ I was feeling. I know for certain I felt caged in, and Lupa's accusatory voice just made it worse and more uncomfortable. Or maybe I was just being paranoid… or my anxiousness could possibly be justified. Somehow.

"Lupa." I regarded her calmly, but I was inwardly panicked from the giant-ness of the shoulder-high wolf.

At first the wolf was silent, examining me. Suddenly, she started snarling and suddenly pounced right in front of me and opened her massive maw as like she was about to devour me. I could feel her hot breath on my face. It smelled like blood and meat.

I didn't flinch.

Lupa wouldn't eat a demigod without testing him. Or would she? Besides, she couldn't hurt me; it would be like the gorgons all over again. Everything would shatter harmlessly off my skin. But still, it took all my self-control to not jump out of the way or fight back at the abruptly mood-changing she-wolf.

She gave up the I'm-going-to-eat-you position and began circling me, still growling. I didn't move an inch or change my deadpan expression, but my eyes still followed her movements.

"Good. No pup of mine should show fear or weakness." Lupa rumbled approvingly, having stopped snarling. "Come." She said walking out the tall wooden doors, flicking her tail as a gesture for us to follow. Dakota looked at me, mildly impressed.

We stepped outside, the sunlight very bright compared to the barely lit Fortress. As Lupa made her way to the cabins, all the campers she passed respectfully bowed to her. _Okay… kids in armor and wielding all different kinds of weapons while bowing to a super-wolf. Totally natural._ The strange thing was, the other half of me that had no regard for safety didn't mind the weaponry. It just made sense.

"Lady Lupa?" asked Sophia hesitantly.

"Yes, child,"

"Percy claims he has no memory from his past. Do you think it's amnesia or something else, Lupa?"

"I know he has no memory."

"So… are you going to help him get it back?"

"He has to earn it."

"Can you two stop talking as if I'm not here? And you promised me I would see Annabeth and get my memory back if I succeeded in my journey, and I have, haven't I?" I complained.

Sophia and Dakota looked at me in shock. I guess questioning leaders is not encouraged here. At all. The complaint kind of slipped out by itself, in my defense.

"You have ADHD, so I will let this insolence pass, but only once, Perseus." Lupa growled.

I have ADHD? That would explain a lot.

"Your journey is later, Jackson, but until then you must learn our ways and conform."

"Conforming… not one of my strongest points." I sighed, just knowing instinctively. This was going to be a long wait for my "journey." But I had a feeling it was worth it if I got to remember who Annabeth is.

Lupa stopped in front of the twelve cabins set up in a U shape and the assortment of tents, then commanded Sophia and Dakota. "Take him to the Mercury cabin and get him a bunk. Dakota, you can give him the tour after you two get him his lodging. His test will be three days from now, so prepare and train him. I have other matters to attend to."

"Yes, ma'am," they both said at the same time, bowing their heads. Lupa stalked off towards the Fortress.

"Come on, _Perseus."_ Dakota said, putting stress on my full name as if it were some kind of joke.

"Don't call me that."

"I'm sorry, but I think it's funny you got the name of a famous warrior when you don't seem much of one at all." Dakota sneered, which reminded me of someone, but I couldn't think exactly who. The name kept eluding me…

"Ignore the idiot, Percy, he's just being himself." Sophia said, walking over to one of the cabins. It had old, peeling beige paint, but the original color might have just worn away. All the decorations on it looked faded and crumbling. A shiny gold caduceus stood out in the front, planted in the ground. It was the only thing about that cabin that looked new.

She beckoned, so I walked into the cabin. It was crammed with sleeping bags on the floor, people, and bunk beds everywhere else. "Aw, not_ another_ one," someone complained from the back.

Sophia ignored that comment. "This is Percy Jackson, undetermined. Be nice, and remember, killing hurts morale."

_Wait, what? "Killing hurts morale?" What about, killing is not good, especially for me? What is wrong with these people?_ I thought indignantly.

A kid jogged in with curly blonde hair, upturned eyebrows, blue eyes, and a mischievous smile. "Hey, I'm Bobby, the head of the Mercury cabin. You must be the new kid! I came over to show you around and stuff." He offered his hand to shake, which I took.

"Who's Mercury?" I blurted out, and immediately I heard the guy who complained about my arrival snicker. I blushed, feeling ignorant.

"Do you know the Roman gods?" He asked.

"Um, I think I do… Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and the rest." I responded. As I said each name, they seemed to carry their own power and lingered longer than they should.

"Those are the Greek names. They died out when Rome conquered Greece, so it's incorrect to use the Greek names. Zeus is Jupiter, Apollo is still Apollo, and Artemis is Diana." Bobby corrected.

I frowned. I had a hard time believing that they died. "Okay…" I said doubtfully.

"My dad is Mercury, god of travelers, messengers, and pretty much everyone who uses the roads. He welcomes everyone, so that's why you're staying with us until your godly parent claims you. Then you go into your own cabin or tent if you're the son of a minor god or goddess." He continued.

"Why do the minor gods have to be in tents?" I questioned, for some reason I didn't like that.

"Well, after the second Titan War… those times were bad." As he said that, I realized Bobby reminded me of someone… "We didn't have enough space to build cabins, so we used enchanted tents like the Maidens of Diana use," Maidens of _Diana_? Briefly, wise amber eyes flashed through my mind. "They're a lot bigger from the inside, they can be moved around wherever people want, and they're new." Bobby sighed enviously about the last part while looking around the inside of the worn out cabin.

"Well, you gotta work with whatever you have!" Bobby said cheerfully, though it was a little forced. "I got you covered over here, so you can go with Dakota to see your tour. I'll get you a sleeping bag!"

"Okay, see you later," I said absentmindedly. Ever since I blacked out, I've had vague impressions of things and people from my past, but not enough to actually recognize why I know them or what I feel about them. Except Annabeth. I know she's important but I don't know why.

"Come on, Jackson. I have to show you the entire camp by the end of today." Dakota sighed impatiently.

"Okay, let's go."

**I don't like this chapter. Unsatisfying. Next chapter I want to introduce the rest of the characters. Gwen is my favorite Roman, because she's the most original. As for my other characters, I tried to make all of them original, but I can't guarantee. Review, for the love of dinosaurs! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I personally think this chapter is more interesting than the last one. Introducing, Reyna, Gwen, and Hazel! Ta-da! I don't like resorting to Dakota since he already had his point of view in chapter two, but he's the only one besides Percy who gets to see everyone. Percy got chapter three, so no chapter four for him. Don't worry, the next chapter is going to be in someone other than Dakota's or Percy's point of view.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Heroes of Olympus and Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the characters. Nomisaur does not. I mean, have you ever seen a book with the author "Nomisaur?" If you have, that is **_**so**_** cool!**

**Chapter 4:**

**DAKOTA**

"You seem to be enjoying this. Your awe is just _radiating_ off of you." I said sarcastically to Percy.

He shrugged, not too worried about my opinion. "I just feel like I've already seen this before. Nothing seems… new or different."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you sure you're not lying about your amnesia? It's like you've been here before or something." Hopefully, it wasn't going to be like the second Titan War. I didn't want to deal with spies again. It was just too painful, always suspecting your friends and never knowing if they really would betray you.

"Well, I think I've been here before with Annabeth. Something bad happened." Newbie told me thoughtfully.

That just boosted my suspicions that he was there when we toppled Saturn's throne. "You didn't happen to be here last year? Possibly fighting in a mythological war against something like, oh, I don't know, the Titans? Or were you fighting for them?" I know, very subtle. Children of Mars aren't blessed with people skills. In my opinion, they're not very necessary. You can just intimidate or fight for whatever you want from other people. Sadly, I would get into trouble if I did that to a defenseless newbie.

"Do you really think I would remember all those details? Amnesiac over here!" Percy retorted pointedly. "Besides, in all the myths, weren't the Titans evil and tried to bring down the gods?"

"They did, but some people don't see it that way." I admitted. "Well, back to the tour. Over there is the bay where we have the docks and practice naval battles, and over there our smaller version of the Coliseum where we stage fights and where your test will be held. Then we have the forges where the Vulcan kids work…"

We continued on, me showing him around, him not really paying attention. As I got bored of new kid at a rapid pace, my friends finally showed up to save my from my mind-numbing doom with Jackson while we were walking towards the Coliseum.

"Hey, Reyna!" Man, I was glad to see someone I know and is also not annoying! Reyna's a daughter of Apollo, with the hereditary wavy blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and blinding white teeth when she smiled, not that Reyna smiled much anymore.

"Hi." She responded in a flat, drained voice.

"What? No 'hey' for me?" Hazel teased, easily distracting me from my concern about Reyna. She had straw-like blonde hair with brown streaks in them and forest-green eyes, like all of Ceres' kids, but I think she pulled it off better than any of her siblings. Hazel is nice to everyone, and is always helpful and a great friend. Even the meanest and cruelest of the Mars kids like her, which is saying something.

"Oh, hi, Hazel! Didn't see you there," I stuttered, blushing, and then blushed more when I realized I was blushing.

Percy elbowed my side and smirked at me knowingly. Gods, was it that obvious?

"Shut up," I mumbled to him.

"I never said anything."

I cleared my throat and announced "Uh, so yeah, this is Reyna, daughter of Apollo, and this is Hazel, daughter of Ceres. You two, this is Percy, the new guy. He's undetermined, and his test is in three days. Lupa told me to show him around."

Reyna grunted her hello, but Hazel, as friendly as ever, said in her bubbly voice "Good luck on your test! Do you know what Legion you want to get in?"

"Legion?" Percy asked, confused.

"There are twelve different Legions, the Twelfth Legion being the most inexperienced and novice," Hazel described the Twelfth Legion with a lot more tact than most of the other praetors do. "The higher up you achieve the more powerful and skilled you are. The First Legion is the best. I'm in the Seventh Legion, since I'm not very skilled with weapons. Most of Ceres' kids aren't. But Reyna over here is really good at fighting; she's in the First Legion! So is Dakota, Bobby, and Jaso-" Hazel cut herself off abruptly.

Reyna, who had been quiet and reserved the whole time, suddenly blazed with anger. Her blue eyes flashed murderously. "Don't even _speak_ his name in my presence! We all know it's against the rules to talk about deserters anyway!" She spat.

"You never know, he might have been taken or-" Hazel protested.

"Like someone could sneak in through camp through our guards and kidnap him!" Reyna cut her off. "Besides, only a god could do that, and why would they want to after all he's done for them! Jupiter stopped communication from Olympus so no god or goddess could be able to do that anyway!"

Hazel quieted down, but she looked upset. Then again, so was everyone who had known Jason. So was I, after all, Jason had been a good, loyal friend to me, and saved my life on several occasions. We had gone on quests together, with Bobby, Reyna, and Hazel. His disappearance seemed to tip over all the balance the Academy had gained after the battle at Mount Othrys. In fact, the only person who didn't feel upset was Percy, who just looked _really_ confused.

"Who is this Jason?" He asked, looking totally lost.

"UUUUUGGHH! I've already told you, DON'T SAY HIS NAME!" Reyna screamed and then stormed off towards the cabins.

Hazel hurried off to comfort her, and after a moment's hesitation, I came after her.

"Come on, newbie," I growled over my shoulder when I realized Jackson wasn't following me.

"What's her problem?" Percy wondered.

"Jason was her boyfriend… he disappeared about two months ago." I sighed. "He was my best friend. He was an amazing praetor; he slew the Trojan sea monster, defeated the Titan Krios, toppled Saturn's throne, and he was- is a son of Jupiter."

"That's pretty impressive."

"Yeah…" I said watching Reyna. She used to be nicer, until Jason left. Reyna is proud and ambitious, but she could be funny and loving. Now, she just seemed angry.

"You know, I woke up in the Wolf House about two months ago."

"Yeah, that's great." I said, not really listening.

I saw Reyna stomp into the golden Apollo cabin with Hazel on her heels. I started after them and-

"Whoa, cool! What's _that_ cabin?" I heard Percy say. _What the-? _I turned around to see him walk towards the Neptune cabin. I cursed, torn between Reyna and the idiot. Oh man, the gods be angry if he walks in there without permission. Plus, the inhabitant probably wouldn't react well to seeing him, either. I sighed and chased after new kid. _I hope Hazel's got Reyna covered. I'm going to kill Jackson if he upsets Gwen… if Gwen doesn't kill him first._

While I ran towards newbie, he stood at the doorway, pausing for a second, as if he was taking in the gray walls that were hewn straight from the sea floor, courtesy of Neptune himself. _No, don't open the door!_

He opened the door right as I tackled him. It was like talking a statue, he was that heavy, but he still fell over.

"Hey! What was that for?" he yelled angrily.

I whispered fiercely. "Shut u-"

A figure propped itself up on the only bunk that is used. The sheets were thrown around and wrinkled as if the person sleeping in it had been tossing and turning. "Mmmm… who's there?" Gwen called out groggily. "Dakota?"

I stood up and kicked Percy while he was down. "Hey!" He protested.

"Hi, Gwen!" I said nervously. "Why are you sleeping in the middle of the day?"

She sighed, sounding a lot more broken and depressed than Reyna. Maybe Percy running off wasn't so bad, if it brought Gwen, who I've been avoiding, to my attention. Gwen seemed a lot worse off than Reyna. "I just… always feel tired. It's wearing on me. Jason used to help me when everyone else avoided me… like you did."

I felt really guilty. The closer I looked at her, the worse I felt. Dark circles were around her eyes, her long, black hair wasn't brushed, which is very unlike Gwen, she was pale, and her once-bright, alive green eyes looked dead. "Gwen… I'm so sorry…" I mumbled, ashamed of myself. She was suffering, and I had just abandoned her.

"It's okay," she said in a lifeless voice. "Who's this?" Gwen inquired, looking at Jackson.

I looked at him get up when it struck me how much he and Gwen looked alike. He couldn't be alive if he was a son of Neptune without proper training, monsters would have hunted him down nonstop once he got old enough to cause them problems. Neptune _couldn't_ be his father. It would be nearly impossible.

"This is Percy Jackson."

Gwen looked at him with curiosity, which was a lot more emotion than she seemed usually capable of. Then she introduced herself.

"I'm Gwen, daughter of Neptune."

**Can you guess why Gwen is suffering? Can you figure out why I'm saying this if I don't have many people even reading this right now? Oh well, maybe this will get more popular. Maybe. You know what would be nice? You could really make a twelve-year-old's day if you reviewed and told your friends about this story. Or you could write flames about this story, I wouldn't mind. :D **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan is the amazing author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olmpus, not me. I'm just a superfan! **

**Nomisaur here! I'm kind of busy during the day, so I can't be writing two chapters a day, as I'd like to be doing. I'll try to squeeze in as much as I can during the weekdays and especially on weekends. I'm trying to work on not messing up the Roman and Greek names, but sometimes it slips out. I'm not so good with names, but I'm really good with Apollo's Greek and Roman name! Also, I realized that I'm really dragging it out so I'll try to speed it up. Well, without further ado, here is chapter five. **

**Chapter 5:**

**REYNA**

I sank down into my bunk, putting my face in my hands. Why does it always have to be so hard for me?

"Reyna?" Hazel asked nervously.

I didn't answer her. Why did he have to lea- desert? He must've deserted. That's the only possible explanation. The war and the leadership must have been too much for him. It's a good thing I inherited the power—Jason didn't deserve it. He had just been faking everything. I would handle it as it should be. I would be the one to rightfully lead the Academy. So what if he was a son of Jupiter? It didn't mean he would be a born leader.

The springs of the mattress squeaked as Hazel sat down next to me and put a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"I know you miss him," Hazel soothed. The problem was I didn't really miss Jason. Why does everyone think that? I guess we were a couple, but I didn't really feel much meaning behind those words. "But we have to carry on and hope for the best. Maybe he'll come back, but until then, the Legions must stay united and strong. _Enim maius bonum._" She said, unconsciously slipping into Latin. _For the greater good,_ one of Lupa's favorite motivational/life lesson phrases. No single person is greater than the Academy, which is what Jason seemed to have forgotten.

"Well, I hope he doesn't return! He left, and there is no excuse for that!" I snarled harshly, shooting up, not caring about the hurt look on Hazel's face.

I started towards the Coliseum to let out some steam. When Hazel began trailing after me, I snapped on her. "Stop following me! I don't need to be cared for like a child! Go and pity someone else, that's all your good for."

Immediately, I felt guilty for taking out my anger on Hazel, who had never harmed anyone to my knowledge, but I was too proud to apologize. Tears welled up in her dark green eyes, and she stumbled away, wiping her wet cheeks.

Fuming, I hacked away at some dummies in the Coliseum with my imperial gold sword, archery being too non-physical to help with my fury. I was angry at everything in general, too tired of bottling it up and pretending to be the sad girlfriend, which everyone seemed to want me to be. I had complied to keep them happy, "for the greater good," but what good had it done for me? I kept on furiously chopping away at the straw targets, glad for being solitary. I didn't want someone to comfort or care for me. I can handle myself without anyone's help.

Finally, the horn signaling to gather at the pavilion to eat dinner sounded, interrupting my rage. I took a deep breath, collecting myself before sheathing my sword. I lead the First Legion table as usual, but I ate in moody silence.

I noticed that Dakota kept staring at Gwen, who ate alone at the table where Pria our Oracle, guests, and occasionally Lupa sat. They were all absent today. Gwen wasn't in a Legion so she sat there. Dakota would also look at the new kid Percy, who sat at the Twelfth Legion table since he hadn't been tested yet, as if he was comparing the two. I didn't find Percy very interesting or major. He would probably die during his test, anyways. Jackson looked weak, not like a child of Rome should be.

The next day, I volunteered to help train Percy. I thought it would be a nice way to take out my anger. At first I tried to show him archery but he was truly horrible at it. Like really, _horrible_. It would make Apollo and Diana scream in agony if they saw him shoot, if they didn't smite him first for his skills being an abomination and an insult to their craft.

"You're holding the bow upside down." I said through gritted teeth.

"What? Oh…"

Eventually, I gave up and brought him to a sword fighting class. Taz, head of the Mars cabin and my second-in-command was leading the lesson today. Dakota was there, but I skirted around him so I wouldn't have to answer his questions about me and Hazel.

"Which blade do you want?" I asked looking at the racks of swords and trying to guess which type would suit Percy best.

"Oh, I don't need one, I already have a sword." He said casually, pulling out a pen.

"What, the Ballpoint Pen of Destruc-" Percy uncapped the pen. It elongated into a three foot long bronze sword. The metal glowed faintly. "It's called Anaklusmos. Riptide."

"Celestial bronze?" I gasped. "But that's supposed to be all gone! How did you get that?"

"Um, weren't you told I have _amnesia_? As in _I can't remember_." He responded crossly.

I scowled at him. This isn't natural. Why didn't Lupa just kill him? He seemed like a spy. Our tests are meant to weed out the weak. I hope it does its job.

"So…" Percy said trying to make conversation. "What's wrong with Gwen?" That could possibly be the worse topic to pick. Out of everything he could've chosen, this one. He must be socially handicapped.

"Well, she killed someone for one." I began.

"What? She doesn't seem like a murderer…"

I suddenly slashed at his arm, trying to teach him that your attention should never lapse. He parried with ease, surprising me so much that I stumbled the deflected force.

"Well, that sure backfired for you." Percy smiled cheekily.

"How did you…? You couldn't possibly do that without training…" I mumbled in disbelief.

"It's reflexes and instinct." He shrugged as if it was nothing. "Just a natural reaction."

"Taz, come look at this." I called, not breaking eye contact with him.

"What?" She answered, jogging over. The rest of the class followed her with some interest.

"Watch." I commanded, and then tried to punch Jackson in the face. He swayed out of the way, almost gracefully. Then, I followed it up with an attempted kick to the midsection, but he just sidestepped my blow with ease.

"His reflexes are as good as Jason's!" Taz marveled (I let that one slide), and then tried to stab him with her gladius, but he just did a Matrix-type dodge.

"How is that possible? He isn't trained… or is he?" Dakota wondered. Suspicious murmurs rippled through the crowd. Could he be a spy? He wouldn't give it away that easy if he was one, though.

"I don't know! How am I doing this?" Percy exclaimed helplessly.

Taz narrowed her eyes. "I want to see him duel me." The class gasped. Taz was the best swordsman here, not including Jason. I, of course, was better all around, but you have to give her some credit.

The crowd stepped away, leaving space for them to fight. "Ready yourself." That was Taz's only warning before she attacked with her stunning swordsmanship.

Percy dodged, parried, slashed, and stabbed in return. His style was strange, some weird constant flow between defense and offense. We chose either attack or defense and concentrated that only. Their match went on for a minute before Percy finally disarmed her. His sword pointed at her throat.

Taz's sword solemnly clattered to the ground. She looked shocked and a little bit scared.

"But you said you're not trained…"

Percy himself looked very surprised, and lowered his blade. "What kind of past did I _have_?" he asked to no one in particular.

I cleared my throat to get their attention and smiled at Percy. "Well, obviously, you're not going to need much more training. What kind of style is that?"

"Um, I don't know?" He looked uncomfortable in the spotlight.

I convinced Taz to teach him our Roman swordsmanship, but she looked unhappy and would glare at Percy warily. Percy himself didn't look so casual and complained at our "weird sword-fighting."

"Maybe he's a really gifted son of Mars." Taz suggested, but even she didn't look convinced. Percy looked nothing like children of Mars, and when I explained to him that Mars was the god of war, he couldn't suppress a look of strong dislike.

When we exited the Coliseum at the end of the lesson, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back so we were separate from the rest. They didn't look so comfortable with the freak talking to their unprotected leader, but they didn't protest.

"We didn't get to finish our conversation." Jackson smiled nervously.

"Oh yeah, so what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, you said Gwen… killed someone?"

I frowned at him. "You could do better than that." A confused look crossed his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh! So you weren't… never mind, then!" Good, he was going places and might as well get close to him before that happens so he trusts me. "Yes, Gwen killed someone. One of the campers. Suzie Hawkins, daughter of Venus. Everyone liked her. Sadly, Gwen was unexpectedly given… a power she couldn't really control. She's not stable." I tried to drive him away from her. "You'll have to ask her, I shouldn't give away her secrets."

"Oh. Well, I guess I'll see you later Reyna." Then he walked away, leaving me to stare frustratedly at his back. Why didn't he want me?

Over the next two days, I stayed at his side, trying to get him to notice me. It seemed everyday he managed to find a new way to distance him away from the rest of us. So much for conforming. He couldn't read Latin, not even a tiny bit, but he could read Ancient Greek. He remembered most myths and gods, but in their dead, Greek names. He didn't feel comfortable with our Roman principles about order and discipline. He seemed to have opinions about all the gods and monsters, even if he hadn't met them (most of us haven't).

"Is there anything _normal_ about you?" Sophia snapped at him in frustration after an unsuccessful Latin lesson.

He _did_ excel at sword-fighting and naval drills, not that that helped with most of the other's opinions of him. They didn't trust him, and truthfully, I don't think Percy trusted us, either.

It was as if Percy was trying to make himself ambiguous and untrustworthy. He gave no hints about whom his godly parent was, and I doubt his forgotten past would help get past the whole trust issue thing.

The day of his test came eventually. It was pretty clear that the rest of the Academy wanted him dead. I hoped he would survive. He was obviously powerful, and I could definitely benefit from that.

"Can you give any hints about this test?" Percy pleaded.

"No, that would be against the rules." Of course I was going help him. "Just don't submit to your fears." A little subtle, maybe, but it would help him.

I chose a seat in our miniature Coliseum so I could watch his test. Gwen was sitting not too far off. Dakota and Hazel were with her. _What is she doing here? Why are Dakota and Hazel with her? Don't they know she's dangerous? _I thought, irritated, making me nearly not notice Bobby plop down next to me.

"So, what's this with you and Hazel?" Bobby asked nonchalantly.

"You shouldn't question your leader."

"But I _can_ question my friend. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Fine, if you want it to be that way, it shall. But I _will _get some answers."

"Right. Have fun with that."

Lupa howled, silencing us. "Perseus Jackson shall be tested to see if he is worthy to live among the Legion Academy. His test begins now."

**I wanted to put Percy's test into Chapter Five, but it was getting too long. Sigh. Sorry for taking so long to update, but I've been busy. I don't feel like telling what's wrong with Gwen yet, so you have to wait for it. I **_**will**_** tell you it has something to do with the Great Prophecy. I'm trying to write chapters of good quality as fast as I can, so have patience, O Few and Very Appreciated Readers! Also, review please! There's a little magical button right underneath this story. You should click it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! This is from Hazel's point of view, so I'm going to be backtracking a little bit. This chapter will be about Percy's test(s). Yes, there is a second one. Surprise!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, series, or books. Rick Riordan does, and he does it fantastically.**

**Chapter 6:**

**HAZEL**

"Hazel, do you want to come and see Percy's test?" Dakota asked, smiling at me. I had just been in the stables with the pegasi. They were a lot nicer to me than to most. Then again, I was a lot nicer to them than most are.

"Of course! Do you think he'll make it?" I asked, walking over to the Coliseum with him. I thought about Percy. His bright green eyes and the way his hair was always messy was cute.

"You should have seen him when he fought. It was scary good, but he had this weird, mixed style. We tried to teach him the standard way of fighting, but it really didn't work for him. He's probably going to make it, depending on what his test is. If you're that good at fighting, you have to have a reason, and with that, you have to have fear for _something_..." Dakota trailed off thoughtfully.

We entered the stone stands around the arena and looked for a seat. It was pretty packed; a lot of people were curious about Percy. Or they just wanted to watch him die a horrible death. I personally hoped he would live. He seemed nice, but he was kind of clueless.

"Let's go sit by Gwen." Dakota said quietly.

"Okay," I was a little confused because he had been avoiding her ever since… she was "blessed."

I talked to her from time to time, but every time a saw her, I heard Suzie screaming in terror and the roar of water. It was hard to get past, but I reminded myself it wasn't her fault and pushed through my fear to sit by Gwen.

"Hey!" I greeted Gwen and sat to her right, while Dakota said hello and sat on her left. She looked surprised, but smiled back. I looked closely at her to see how she was doing. Gods, she was pale. Her familiar face was lined and exhausted. Poor Gwen…

While we waited around, for our amusements, I grew small plants in the cracks between the stones where dirt had gathered. Dandelions matured in seconds, and then their fluffy tops exploded and the white seeds drifted away in the wind. We talked to pass the time.

I heard Reyna arguing with Bobby in the distance. A twinge of hurt passed through my chest. I had heard Reyna loud and clear; she didn't want my help. I didn't bother to look at them.

Finally, Lupa howled with authority to get our attentions and to silence us. "Perseus Jackson shall be tested to see if he is worthy to live among the Legion Academy. His test begins now."

Percy hesitantly stepped out into the arena. As soon as he set foot into the bare expanse, it began to shimmer and change, aligning itself to his fears. I wondered how it would do that if he had no memory, but it seemed to have no trouble with that. Also, each test varied from person to person. Sometimes it was a mission to rescue someone, sometimes the person tested just had to defeat their fear.

I remember my test. I had been near my home, in the little meadow next to it. It was peaceful and beautiful. My friends and family were there. Then, it had all turned into a nightmare. The trees and grass started to wither and burn. My friends had suddenly turned on me, and my mission was to kill them all. They had betrayed me, and it was my only choice. The only reason I had managed to do it was by trusting that my real friends, not a fabricated test, would never do that. Even if I was only in the Seventh Legion, I had been remembered for it. That's also the reason I took Reyna's harsh comments so badly.

Percy's test turned into a huge marble room, with gold and white everywhere. A faun and a girl that looked like a daughter of Minerva appeared behind him, but Percy hadn't noticed them yet. Twelve thrones, all the size that could seat a giant, arranged in a U shape were in the middle. _Olympus? How has he ever been there?_ It was barely lit by a dying hearth and a handsome teenager was in the middle, arms wide as if taking it all in. He looked like a son of Mercury, except his eyes were a terrifying, inhuman gold. Another (regular looking) teenager with an eye patch cowered behind him as if he was trying to not be noticed. The golden-eyed one's laughter echoed impossibly loud. In his hand, a scythe that was half bronze, half mortal steel gleamed wickedly. Then boy with the eye patch murmured a warning, and the blonde guy turned around.

"Luke?" Percy said in shock. Percy looked bewildered and slow realization crept over his face. "No, not Luke. Kronos." He figured with a mixture of pity, hate, anger, and sadness.

The Luke/Kronos guy smiled horribly. "Shall I destroy you first, Jackson? Is that the choice you will make—to fight me and die instead of bowing down? Prophecies never end well, you know." His voice was deep and persuasive, like a snake.

"There's a prophecy about Percy? Why is he calling him 'Kronos?' Who _is_ Kronos?" I mumbled to Dakota. He looked disturbed but didn't respond.

Percy's two friends stepped away from him and walked over to Luke/Kronos. Jackson looked after them helplessly.

"Give up, Percy. You can't defeat the Titan Lord. He's too strong." The blonde haired girl said sadly, her gray eyes somber. "It's hopeless."

"Listen to her. A mere mortal couldn't defeat Kronos." The faun pleaded.

"Grover? Annabeth?" Percy practically whimpered, his sea green eyes deeply hurt.

"I've always loved Luke more. I've known him longer, and he's rescued me from a life on the streets. He saved me and gave me a family. Something you can't compete with." Annabeth said cruelly. I could almost see Percy's spirit getting crushed.

I thought that his test had broken him and Percy would be eaten by Lupa. Instead…

He straightened and his green eyes grew defiant. "No. This isn't how it went. You're wrong."

Kronos laughed. "Down there, the mortals have wakened. Your little puny friends have weakened and my army is breaking through their defenses. They will all be slaughtered while the gods fail to defeat Typhon. He is in Manhattan right now, making his way to Olympus. Poseidon still fights his useless battle on the bottom of the ocean. Everything will be destroyed from the Age of the Gods and I will start anew!"

"NO!" Percy shouted angrily. "This didn't happen! Annabeth would never do that!"

Then, He pulled out his strange bronze sword and attacked a _Titan, _his sword flashing in an impressive array of swordsmanship. Kronos' scythe morphed into a sword, and he blocked, fighting back with his own amazing skill. Their fight lasted several minutes, but Percy was tiring. However, our tests may be dangerous, but could it duplicate the power of a Titan?

Finally, Percy disarmed him. Kronos looked shocked, but he quickly regained his posture. "Go and help your precious friends!" the once-Luke snarled. A blast of pure power shot out from his hand and destroyed the floor underneath Annabeth and Grover. They fell, but managed to grab purchase of the crumbling sides. They were slipping and couldn't hold on for long. "You can kill me or save them!" the Titan cackled evilly.

Percy dove over to his friends and hauled them out, even after they had betrayed him. He was making sure they were safe during his own test! _Is he that loyal?_ I thought.

"KILL HIM, NAKAMURA!" Kronos screamed. His servant pulled out his own blade and tried to stab Percy's back, but he rolled out of the way.

Percy quickly defeated Nakamura guy, but hesitated to kill him. Instead he dealt a blow to his temple with the pommel of the sword, knocking him out but not killing him. While Percy had been battling Nakamura, Kronos had retrieved his sword.

"Now you shall die Jackson! I bear the curse of Achilles, and I am a Titan. You, mere mortal, will perish once I shed this pathetic shell of a body and assume my true form!" Kronos roared, and charged Percy with his sword raised and slashed at his neck.

"But I know where your mortal point is, Luke. Give up before it's too late!" Percy parried and spoke at the same time.

"Impossible!" Kronos' body started glowing. I realized that he was assuming his true form. Could this test recreate the Titan? I saw Percy staggering backwards, the light and heat that radiated off his opponent disorienting him.

Kronos raised his sword to deliver the fatal blow. It seemed to fall in slow motion…

Percy shot forward so fast, his outline blurred and stabbed Kronos in a small spot below his left armpit.

The Titan screamed in agony, causing the very earth to shake. The arena exploded into golden light, blinding everyone.

When all the dust cleared, the fake Olympus had faded away, leaving only Percy Jackson on his knees, head bowed.

Absolute quiet settled over the Coliseum. That was the most realistic and terrifying test anyone could remember. I couldn't help wondering if that really happened.

Lupa announced loudly, which was unnecessary since everyone was in a shocked silence. "Perseus Jackson has passed his test. He will be accepted into our ranks," Yeah, right. "as a comrade. Rise, Perseus, as a true legionary of Rome."

**Did you like the test? I came up with this alternative of what happened when Percy fought Luke/Kronos pretty much on the spot, so don't be too harsh. Also "Shall I destroy you first, Jackson? Is that the choice you will make—to fight me and die instead of bowing down? Prophecies never end well, you know." is from The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan, of course, so yeah. AKAAkira, thanks for pointing out the whole Romans shouldn't know about the Greeks thing, so I fixed it. Please review and tell all your friends if you liked it! If you didn't, write flames, anything, please!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I feel so proud; I got more than ten reviews! And they were all nice, which I feel is an achievement. They're really good motivators, so thanks again! I think it's going pretty good for my first fan fiction. Thanks for a third time! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or Heroes of Olympus. Just reminding you. For the sixth time. **

**Chapter 7:**

**BOBBY**

I sat there in shock. _There is no way that's possible_.

"Perseus Jackson has passed his test. He will be accepted into our ranks as a comrade. Rise, Perseus, as a true legionary of Rome." Lupa's voice rang out through the silence.

Percy stood at Lupa's command, but he looked shaken. He looked around at our white faces with a face as white as ours.

How could his fear be Saturn? Or as Percy had called him, Kronos. It's not like he could be at Olympus; no demigod was allowed to be there at the time Saturn was invading. He couldn't have defeated Saturn… Jason may have defeated Krios, but Saturn is _the_ Titan Lord. Anyways, everyone here knows that after Neptune sent Typhon to Tartarus, the gods rushed to Olympus to defeat Saturn.

"His second test shall begin tomorrow at noon. That will determine what Legion Perseus gets in." Lupa stated.

"Wait, _another_ test? Why tomorrow? What if I want to rest?" Percy grumbled.

Beside me, I heard Reyna sharply suck in a breath. She always strictly followed the rules and never questioned her leaders. "Idiot," She muttered.

I shifted away from her, and hoped she wouldn't notice. I had been unconsciously ignoring it, but ever since Jason disappeared, Reyna had been growing… well, ambitious and distancing herself from everyone as if she was better. She looked at people with slight disdain. What really set off my suspicions was that during Percy's test, she stared at him with undoubted greed and hunger. Jason had always been there to make sure she was still grounded, but now, her arrogance and thirst for power had grown out of control.

Even in my own thoughts, I didn't feel comfortable openly guessing what's wrong with our leader, but most importantly, what's wrong with my friend and comrade. Now that I thought about it clearly, it was obvious Reyna was striving for power and leadership.

"You are all dismissed. Go back to your regular schedules." Lupa ordered.

People filed out of the Coliseum, muttering to their friends about what happened. Their whispers were filled with hate, fear, and curiosity. Percy was not helping himself at all, seemingly. Ever.

I watched Percy shuffle off to the showers and began to follow him, trying to talk to him before he reached them. That would be awkward if I tried to talk to him while he was in there.

Reyna started after him too, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Maybe _I_ should talk to him." I said, narrowing my eyes. I didn't completely trust her anymore. I had a feeling she would throw me under the bus without a second thought with her new power aspirations.

She narrowed her eyes back at me. "Fine." In that one word, she told me that she was no longer the Reyna I knew. She had vanished along with Jason. She knew I had figured it out. The others still thought she was same old Reyna. That was far from the truth.

I ran to catch up with Percy.

"Hey, man." I greeted.

He grunted in return and looked lost in thought.

"What was that?" I asked, not able to wait any more. I have ADHD and patience wasn't my strong point.

"What? Oh the test…" He said slowly and deliberately. "I remembered… I remembered a little of my past. It's really blurry and chaotic… Something about a war. It obviously had to do with me, Grover, Luke… and Annabeth." He added the girl's name last, and I think a little dreamily.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" I joked.

Percy was silent for a (long) while.

"Wait… you mean she really was your girlfriend? She is h-" Percy cut me off with a withering glare.

"I already knew that."

"Yeah, but still…" I mumbled. "She looks like a daughter of Minerva." I tried to change the subject.

"She's a daughter of _Athena_. Minerva doesn't seem right."

"Why do you always use Greek names? The Greek gods are dead. Gone." I snapped. I usually don't behave that way, but those names just woke up a strange, aggressive(-er) part of me.

"But are they?" He said under his breath, but I let that one go. "Anyway, what is this new, second test that I haven't heard about?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Lupa thinks that if new people knew there was a second test, they wouldn't give their all to the first one. Plus, a Roman soldier must be ready no matter if it's on short notice." I explained. "The second test is to find which Legion you'll start in. You start with the Twelfth Legion and if you defeat them, you fight the next highest Legion and so on. The Legion you're defeated by, depending on how well you fought them, is the Legion you join or the Legion directly below it. From there, you have to earn your way up."

"Can you start in the first Legion?" Percy mused.

"Well, you could, but the only person that has done that is Jason, and he…" I trailed off sadly. "Well, you get some rest and stuff. Your test is tomorrow and it's going to be tough."

"'Kay. See you later." Percy said absentmindedly, looking like he was thinking about the small bits of memories that had returned.

…

The next day, most of the Legion Academy had gone back to watch Percy's second test. The few that hadn't come yesterday turned up, curious from what they had heard about his first test. The rest of the campgrounds were nearly empty. Only a few naiads and fauns walked around.

I had suited up in my patchy, hand-me-down armor. Its condition matched the rest of nearly everything any children of Mercury owned. The only thing that I owned that's new is my imperial gold sword, which I was given during the second Titan War by _my own father_. I had been so proud of my gift and swore to do the best I could in battle with it in my hands. I probably wouldn't be fighting today, but I still got ready just in case Percy fought the First Legion. Actually, that could be pretty likely.

"Let Perseus Jackson's test begin!" Lupa rumbled.

Percy disarmed three of the Twelfth Legion with ease. There goes the first part.

As Percy worked pass every Legion, he took a little longer to defeat each one as the opponents got more skilled and he, more tired.

As his sword clashed with the Seventh Legion, Jackson hesitated too long in taking out Hazel. She used her nature powers to grow poppies around him. Sounds harmless, but the last time she did that, those flowers made several hellhounds and plenty of turncoat demigods fall into a deep slumber. For three days.

Percy started swooning, but then shook his head like he was gathering his wits then slashed through the poppies and finished the Seventh Legion.

Jackson blazed through the Lower Legions, outclassing them with his odd technique. I don't know how he did it, but soon he was battling the Fifth Legion. And then the Fourth. And Third.

His battles grew longer and longer, sometimes making mistakes because of exhaustion. It was sunset when Percy reached the First Legion. Gods, he's really good. As-good-as-Jason good.

I stepped into the arena with Reyna and Dakota. Taz had downright refused to fight and Reyna had eagerly joined in. She would probably help him get into the First Legion as a means of a piggy-back-ride to power. Percy was blissfully ignorant of her politics and machinations.

I approached Percy warily, knowing his capabilities. Dakota raised his sword, equally as nervous. Hopefully the two of us (I didn't count on the help from Reyna) could overpower him.

Percy was soaked in sweat and was panting loudly. Dakota and I rushed forward simultaneously, years of training together letting us nearly read each others' thoughts. I attacked him directly, and then was soon backpedaling, panicked. Dakota tried to take advantage of my distraction, but it turned out he wasn't so distracted. Reyna shot a few arrows, but otherwise, didn't really help. I tried this disarming move where I twisted his sword with that flat of my own blade so that Percy had to drop his weapon. It clattered out of his grasp. He looked at his sword and then at me in shock.

Then it went all wrong. Percy fell to his knees, his head in his heads, making little noises of agony.

"What did I do?" I asked Dakota, panicked.

Percy looked up at me, his eyes full of pain and anguish.

_Kill him..._ A strange voice I've never heard whispered in my head. It was soft and cold, like a voice of reason, but very insistent. _Kill him… He has shown weakness… He does not deserve to live…_ In something like a daze, I raised my sword to behead Percy. Dakota yelled at me, but he sounded like he was at a distance and was all echoey. _Ignore him, he is a fool…_

My sword arced downward.

Percy held up his hand in a futile attempt to stop the lethal blow… and my sword bounced off his hand.

He looked up at me with a mixture of fear and hate, but he didn't seem to be looking at me. He had that faraway look, almost as if he was daydreaming. His expression made me snap out of the trance. "Luke." He snarled.

Suddenly, he pounced, with his sword in hand. How did that get there? I thought I knocked it away!

I desperately defended myself for dear life for a few seconds, but Percy seemed to be in berserk mode or something. A fierce expression was locked on his face. I couldn't hold him off any longer, when Lupa intervined.

"Enough!" She barked, and jumped on us, me under her right forepaw and Percy under her left.

Percy lost that dreamy look and glanced around in shock.

"What happened?" He questioned, looking innocent and clueless.

"You attacked him as if your life depended on it! You were about to kill him!" Dakota screamed at him in rage.

"What…?" Finally, the memories came back to him. "Bobby, I don't know what happened… I just thought I was on this ship…" He trailed off helplessly as if he couldn't find the words to describe it. "Didn't you try to kill me, too?"

It was my turn to be helpless. "I heard this voice and it told me to kill you. It was like I couldn't control my own actions, I just did what it told me to do."

Lupa growled. "Regardless, you both tried to kill a comrade. However, in these circumstances, you will both go unpunished. Jackson, you shall be placed in the First Legion." There were a lot of gasps and complaints that were silenced by Lupa's glare. "Also, Percy has not been claimed, like he was supposed to after his tests, like the gods swore on the River Styx that they would do. He has given no clue who his godly parent is."

"I know who he is." Gwen spoke up. I had noticed she kept staring at Percy like she was trying to figure out a complicated puzzle. "I can sense the sea in his blood." She raised her voice, announcing the traditional lines in Lupa's place, but the she-wolf made no objections.

"Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God. Earthshaker and Stormbringer. Neptune."

**Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? If it's any of those, please review! If you've read The Lost Hero, you should be able to tell who commanded Bobby to kill Percy. I would never make Bobby try and kill Percy willingly, so yeah. The reason Percy freaked out after being disarmed is because Bobby used the same disarming move Percy learned at Camp Half-Blood, the first thing Luke ever taught him about sword fighting. Plus, Bobby is a son of Mercury, so that also helped trigger the memories. Thanks for reading! I'll try and write the next chapter as soon as I can!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi, I'm taking a little bit longer to write because I've been trying to think up a prophecy. Yes, there is a prophecy. Why wouldn't there be? Thanks for the reviews, guys! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! PJO and HoO are both owned by Rick Riordan, including all the characters. I can't wait for his new book to come out! It's going to be amazing! :D**

**Chapter 8:**

**PERCY**

As soon as Gwen uttered those words, a feeling washed over me that said I was stuck here. Trapped. This place would now be a part of me. But did I really want that?

I've always known Poseid- no _Neptune,_ as the call him here, is my dad. It made sense. However, the other campers reacted as if I suddenly became flammable, radioactive, and explosive at the same time. They glared at me as if it was my fault I was born. They thought I was dangerous and not worth the risk. I suppose I _am _dangerous. But I personally think I'm definitely worth the risk.

"Why hasn't he been claimed by Neptune himself? How do we know Gwen's right?" Some person called out from the stands.

Lupa took her paws off me and Bobby. "Go prove yourself, Son of Neptune." She growled. Well, at least she believed in me. But exactly how do I prove it?

I took a deep breath and searched for the sea, which wasn't too hard since the camp was right next to it. I could feel the power radiating off of it and tried to use it. Suddenly, there was a weird tug in my gut, but it wasn't unfamiliar, and a mini hurricane started swirling around my feet. I floated on top of it.

"How do we know Gwen isn't doing that for him?" Man, that skeptic was stubborn.

"Trust me, I couldn't do something nearly as subtle." Gwen said drily.

"Er, Percy?"Bobby said to get my attention.

"Yeah?" The little storm died, and I fell not-so-gently on the ground.

"How did my sword bounce off of your hand?"

This was going to be fun. "Yeah, about that-"

"Do you have some shield I didn't see? Or blocked it magically? Or-"

"None of those. Actually, when those gorgons were chasing me, they said," I took a deep breath before continuing. Gods, they're going to hate me even more than they already do, if that's possible. "They said I bore the mark of Achilles or something like that."

Everyone stared at me.

"Do you understand the magnitude of what you're saying?" Lupa said quietly. "Have you bathed in the River Styx?"

I gulped. I liked her better when she was roaring and snarling at me. "Yes, I have."

One of the memories that had come back to me was this agonizing _burning_, but not only physically, it felt like it was burning through my identity and my very soul. The burning had receded in my memory when I heard Annabeth's voice and felt her warm smile. _She was what I thought of when I swam in the Styx,_ I realized. The small of my back tingled.

"Well, Perseus. You are a curiosity."

"Um, thanks?"

"We will start his ceremonial dinner early. Go to the pavilion." Lupa spoke louder so everyone could hear her clearly.

People exited the arena, occasionally casting spiteful glares at me over their shoulders.

Bobby looked at the ground and mumbled "Sorry about that. That was… pretty crazy. Your tests are exciting, to say the least." He looked up and grinned weakly.

"Yeah, it's fine. But let's try to kill each other a little bit less, okay?"

Bobby was about to respond when Reyna walked up to me, smiling cheerily as if nothing that happened mattered. "That was amazing! You're starting in the First Legion, with me, of course. This'll be fun!"

I smiled back, but Bobby just stared coldly at her.

"Let's go, Percy. We have to go to the pavilion." Bobby said to me, but didn't stop glowering at Reyna.

"Um, okay. See you, Reyna!" I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a battlefield without knowing what was going on.

"Bye!" She flashed her blinding white teeth at me.

Bobby muttered angrily under his breath as we walked over to the cabins.

"What's going on between you and her?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said stiffly.

"Riiiiight."

"Come on, let's go to my cabin so I can put up my armor and you can move your stuff into your new cabin."

"Changing the subject. Nice."

"You didn't know Reyna before, so why should I tell you anything?" He snapped.

"Whoa, no need to be angry! I'm just asking!" I held up my arms like I was surrendering. Which I wasn't.

He grumbled and opened the door to the Mercury cabin. He started taking off his helmet while I went to go get my few possessions. As I bent down to pick up my belongings, the necklace that I woke up with in the Wolf House fell out of my shirt.

"What's that?" Bobby asked curiously.

"This? It's just something that I had when I woke up in the Wolf House." I fingered it, rolling around the four beads. Each clay bead had a picture on it, the first was a shimmering trident on a pitch-black background, the second had a pine tree on it, the third had what looked like a maze, and the fourth was a picture of the Empire State Building with names spiraling around it. _Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Michael Yew…_ As I read those names, memories stirred, but they were still lost to me.

Bobby looked at it closely and then sharply said "You shouldn't be wearing that."

"Why?" I protested. I wasn't going to take it off no matter what he said.

His movements turned agitated and he shoved his armor back into a chest. "It's bad. I don't know why, but it seems like… I don't know. Just take it off."

"I'm not going to. Besides Riptide, it's the only other thing I have from my past." I scowled.

"Fine, but the others aren't going to like it." Bobby said in a steely voice.

I said nothing, but took my stuff over to the Neptune cabin. It was the only place in the entire camp that made me feel less out of place. It felt more home-y but still not quite right.

I chose a bunk on the opposite side of the room that had Gwen's bed. As I turned around I almost ran into her.

We both mumbled apologies, each of us clearly feeling uncomfortable. It was hard to be casual in front of a murderer.

"Er, thanks for finding out the whole godly parent thing." I awkwardly tried to start some conversation.

"Oh, it was nothing," She looked embarrassed. "I'm surprised I didn't figure it out sooner. You seem… different than any other being of the sea that I've met."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Well, I'd better go to the pavilion."

"Okay, see you, Percy."

When I got there, I sat down at my new, unfriendly table. Reyna and Bobby were the only welcoming people at the First Legion table.

Lupa howled to get everyone to pay attention. All conversations ended abruptly. I, of course, wasn't having a conversation with anyone. Lupa started talking.

"We are here to celebrate the arrival of Perseus Jackson into our ranks. Normally, he would get the standard tattoo after being claimed, but he will stay unmarked." There was a mixture of approval and dissent. Some people were happy I wouldn't get the tattoo. If I got it, that would mean I was one of them, which I know I'm not. Others didn't like it because I was a freak to them, and that just made it more obvious. I guess appearances are meaningful to them. The branding wouldn't work anyway because I'm invulnerable.

"Congratulations. You will be starting with the First Legion tomorrow. That is all." Lupa finished.

"Wait! I have something to say." An Indian girl stood up at Gwen and Lupa's table.

"Yes, Pria?" Lupa treated the girl with respect.

"Who's Pria?" I asked Reyna.

"She's our Oracle. When she's not at the Academy, she's at her middle school farther north in California. She's a regular mortal." Reyna responded with a little bit of disdain.

"I've been having these visions lately." Pria said anxiously. "They aren't very clear, but I saw a giant. I think he was someone cold because he was in a place that was made completely out of ice. I think… no… it's certain The Great Prophecy has started."

Everyone started talking at once.

"Quiet!" Lupa barked. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

"Which- I mean, what is this Great Prophecy you're talking about?" I asked Pria, feeling clueless. I've felt that way a lot the past few days.

Pria looked at me, and her eyes widened, but she sounded calm. "Is goes like this;

_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call_

_To fire or storm the world must fall—"_

I had heard this before. Wild panic rose in my chest and I jumped up, trying to make her stop. I opened my mouth to say something (probably something around "SHUT UP!"), but instead another language came out.

"Όρκο για να κρατήσει με μια τελική αναπνοή  
>Και τους εχθρούς να φέρουν όπλα, για τις θύρες του Θανάτου"<p>

Pria looked shocked. I've done that a lot to people if you think about it.

"You finished the Prophecy in Greek…" She stammered. "An oath to keep with a final breath/And foes bear arms to the Door of Death. How did you…?"

"I know those words… It can't be happening now…" _Not again,_ I thought,_ Wait, again?_

Lupa said gravely "It is time for a quest."

The air buzzed with excitement and conversation as soon as Lupa finished her sentence.

Hazel stood up and said "I think Percy should lead it. He's obviously capable, and he told me turned up at the Wolf House two months ago, which is about the same time Jason disappeared. I think it's linked. Plus the only person that could wipe his memory is a god, and they wouldn't do that without a reason. If he remembers bits and pieces, then it's not Lethe, so that's the only possibility."

I didn't feel too intimidated by the thought of a quest. In fact, it seemed almost familiar and… fun, I guess.

"No, _I _should lead it." Reyna stood up, glaring at Hazel. "I _am_ the leader after all."

Bobby spoke up. "No, I second Percy getting the quest. You might be too distressed from Jason being missing to make the correct decisions." His words sounded like they were laced with a double meaning, but it was beyond me.

Reyna glared daggers at him, but sat back down. "Whatever, he can lead the quest, but he's new, so how would he know how deal with it?"

"I think I've been on a quest before. Or at least something like it." I offered sheepishly. All these opinions flying around made me feel incompetent.

Lupa narrowed her eyes in suspicion at me. "Ask The Oracle. If she issues you a quest, then we'll know you're the one meant to lead."

"Uh, okay." I walked over to Pria, feeling awkward. I wasn't sure what to say, but the words came out of my mouth instinctively. "What is my destiny?"

Pria become rigid and closed her eyes. Emerald smoke coiled around her like little snakes. When she opened her eyes, they were no longer brown. Instead, they glowed green. She opened her mouth and spoke in a raspy voice mixed with what sounded like several Pria's.

"_Together, the five led by the sea's son_

_Travel to the land of the midnight sun._

_In the river, stands the palace of ice_

_That the half-bloods must destroy at any price._

_Defeat the patron's son and the ice queen_

_With the help of the one who works unseen._

_A child of the sea must lose the curse_

_In order to beat the ones who adverse._

_The bay contains the lost one's memories,_

_But it also holds the five's enemies._

_If he remembers his forgotten past,_

_Trust him, or chaos will reign, unsurpassed._

_If you wish to find the missing hero,_

_Rome must decide if he is friend or foe."_

Pria collapsed and the smoke faded away.

**Man, that prophecy took a long time to write! Did you like it? It's completely original. It was getting long so the rest of what I wanted to put in this chapter will go into the next one. Review, please, and thanks for all the reviews that are already there! Try and guess where they're going and what they'll be doing.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm going to be researching mythology for the next few chapters so I'm not going to be updating as fast as I'd like to be. Just a heads up. There might be different versions of what happened in the mythology, so I'm saying, there is no wrong mythology, unless I completely made up the myth, which I won't do. Thanks for all those reviews! I really appreciate them. They're good motivators!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HoO or PJO. Greek mythology belongs to no one, though.**

**Chapter 9:**

**REYNA**

Pria collapsed into a heap on the ground. _Good, she deserved it. Why didn't she give the quest to me? And why did Hazel and Bobby have to get in my way? They're not going to stop me, and they _will_ be punished somehow for that. _I glowered at Pria's unconscious body as Erin, head of the Trivia cabin, used her magic to float her off the ground and take her to the infirmary.

"It is confirmed that Percy will lead the quest. '_Together, the five lead by the sea's son.' _Percy, you are the son of Neptune that the prophecy speaks about. Four others will go with you on your quest. Choose." Lupa commanded.

Percy looked confident and was taking everything in stride. Gods, I was hoping he would break down, so he would have to depend on me. But no, fate is always against me.

"Let's see… Bobby do you want to go?" I bet Bobby was blackmailing Percy to let him in somehow. Who would want to go with Bobby?

Bobby looked surprised, but thankful. "Sure, man." He grinned. "Let's do this!"

"Dakota? I know I tried to kill your best friend and everything, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd come." Percy asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, I'll go. But don't try anything." Dakota responded hostilely, narrowing his eyes.

"Er, okay." Percy looked over at Hazel. "Do you want to go with us?"

Hazel shook her head. "I don't do well in the cold… I used to live there, anyway, and I wouldn't like to go back." I heard some bitterness in her voice. Something to exploit? "I think I know some stuff about the Prophecy's lines though. I'll tell you them later." She looked pointedly at me. "You never know what might try and stop you. I think you should take Gwen, though. '_A child of the sea must lose the curse.'_ I think that's her."

"You're cursed?" Percy said blankly. Wow, he's really stupid.

Gwen shifted uncomfortably and mumbled "I'll tell you later."

"So, uh, do you want to go?" Percy said, obviously thrown.

Gwen looked up, eyes shining with hope. "Of course."

"Let's see, who else…" Percy muttered to himself, looking at the sea of faces, all looking back at him with pleading expressions. His gaze met mine and his eyes brightened.

"Reyna! Do you want to come?" Percy asked.

I beamed at him and casted a smug look at Bobby before saying "Why not? You never know when you need an archer."

"Okay, great." Percy said, relieved. "Well, that's the five, Lupa."

"Good. You will leave tomorrow morning. Be ready and get your packs. I will give you with whatever emergency supplies you need." Lupa rumbled.

"Alright! Wasn't this an exciting celebratory dinner?" He grinned at the crowd. They all stared back at him with dead eyes. "Okaaay." Percy wisely sat down.

"Now we begin Percy's feast." Lupa said. Food appeared on everyone's plates as usual, and we filed up by Legions to scrape a little bit of our meal into the sacrificial brazier. The food was a little fancier and luxurious, but really that much different than a regular meal.

I usually didn't send a prayer like I was supposed to but tonight, I prayed to Victoria, goddess of strength, speed, but most importantly to me, victory. If you think about it, it would be good to send a prayer for her every day. I would win everything.

"Give me strength, speed, and help me win over Percy." I murmured before sitting down at the First Legion table, right next to Percy.

"Hi," I smiled at him. "Are you excited for your new quest?"

"Yeah, it sounds… interesting and has healthy amounts of danger." He summed it up pretty well. "Have you gone any quests before?"

"Yes, with Jason. I was there to help him kill the Trojan sea monster. It was before Gwen…" I looked over at her. "Before she was cursed, as the prophecy says. She helped us find its underwater lair."

"Jason sounds like an interesting guy. Everyone I talk to seems to know him. I heard some stuff from Dakota, but what did he actually do?" Percy said curiously.

"Well, besides slaying the sea monster, he defeated a Titan. Krios, the starry one with the ram helmet. Yeah, the headgear wasn't really attractive. He was sent on a quest to find Pegasus and tame him for Neptune, which he did…" We talked together for the rest of the feast, me occasionally slipping hints that I liked him, and him blushing a little whenever he realized I said them. At first, I hadn't really liked him, but he was growing on me. He could still be an annoying idiot sometimes, though.

Eventually, dinner ended and Hazel motioned for Percy to follow her.

"I got to go. Bye." He smiled, green eyes flashing in the firelight. Then he strode off towards Hazel.

_I'll find out what they're saying._ I thought, and walked away with a triumphant smile on my face. I was slowly earning his trust.

I waited around for them to finish their conversation. Finally, Percy started walking to the cabins long after it became dark.

"Hey!" I called. He saw me and came over to me.

"I just have a few things to ask about the prophecy. Oh, and what were you two talking about?" I said casually.

"Well, Hazel said I shouldn't tell people, but I know can trust you." Gods, he is innocent. "She said Alaska's nickname is the land of the midnight sun, so I guess we're going to Alaska. It makes sense for the snow queen to be there. I know I'm the lost one in the prophecy, so I guess if I get my memories back, you guys will have to trust me. It doesn't make my past sound so… good." Percy looked wistfully in the distance. "I wish I could remember. I want to know if I had friends and family. But at the same time, I don't. What if my past is horrible? Plus, the bay that supposedly holds my memories has the people trying to stop us. Why would we want to go there if we're going to get ambushed? Who's the unseen person? Who's the patron and its son? I just have so many questions…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"You trust me, right?" I asked. I stepped closer to him.

"Yeah, of course."

"Then you should know I'm always going to be at your side. I'll always be there." That sounded _so_ cheesy, but I guess Percy is a sucker for those kind of things.

I put my arms around his neck and kissed him. I really didn't like him that much, but he was a natural leader, and I could gain from being close to that much power. A son of Neptune that has bathed in the River Styx. Not too bad, Reyna.

Percy pulled away too soon. He stepped back, taking my arms off of him.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned for me. Why couldn't he just accept this and go?

"I—I can't. I think I already have a girlfriend. I'm sorry, Annabe-Reyna." His face reddened when he mixed up my name with the other girl's.

"Oh, come _on._ You can barely even remember her!" I exasperatedly complained.

"She's important… I can't just pretend she never existed."

"Someone else can be important, too. You don't have to limit yourself." I tried to convince him, but no avail.

"No, Reyna." His voice hardened, but his eyes betrayed the fact that my argument made an impact somewhere in that thick skull.

He backed away and then slowly stalked off towards the Neptune cabin. I muttered angrily under my breath.

"You will come back. You just don't know it yet."

**I'm sorry, Percebeth fans. If you can't tell from the way I created her character, I'm a Jason/Piper person. I'm not really that strong of a fan for Jason/Piper and Percy/Annabeth, so Percebeth fans with have to suffer through some parts of my story. I just want to make the meeting between Annabeth and Reyna awkward. And the Piper and Reyna meeting. That'll be fun. :D Anyway, that was kind of short, but really it was a filler chapter. It's just leading up to Gwen and Percy's conversation. Review!**

**Viper SirenGirl, Yeah, Percy falling for Reyna isn't the most original idea, but I think it makes it more interesting.**


	10. Chapter 10

**The prophecy isn't too vague, as the reviews pointed out. But to the Romans, it's more ambiguous. They haven't read The Lost Hero, like all of us have. Anyway, I'm finally telling you exactly what's wrong with Gwen. I've dragged it out for as long as my heart desired. It was fun teasing you with little bits of information.**

**Disclaimer: A twelve-year-old doesn't own PJO or HoO. Especially when all the books clearly say RICK RIORDAN on all of them. Duh.**

**Chapter 10:**

**GWENDOLYN**

Percy walked into our cabin looking angry and upset.

I had been laying on my bed, struggling through a book because of my dyslexia. This seemed much more interesting. "What's the matter?" Plus, suddenly having a brother helped take my mind off of… the bad stuff.

"Nothing." The tone of his voice made it obvious it was a lot more than nothing.

"I'm your sister, you know. It's not like I'm going to go around spewing all your secrets to everyone." I said.

Percy looked at me with more or less trusting eyes. It was nice to have another living creature that didn't totally hate me and/or be terrified by me.

"It feels weird having a sibling all of a sudden. But yeah, you're right. The Academy doesn't really encourage personal…anything, so it's strange to have someone to talk to, even if I've only been here for a few days." Percy sighed. "It's Reyna."

I scoffed. "Her? She's… not the best person in the world anymore, to say the least."

Percy looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"Ever since Jason disappeared, she's been a little ambitious." I tried to hint it to him.

He stared blankly at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll put it bluntly; she likes you because you're powerful and important."

Percy's face showed that the fact she was doing that was _just_ dawning on him. "Are you sure? Reyna can't be that bad, can she?"

"She used to be a lot more down to earth when Jason was here, but he's not anymore." I thought for a second, trying to save the conversation. Company is easily taken for granted. "You didn't do anything to encourage her or make her angry?"

My new brother shifted uncomfortably. "We might've kissed a little."

I facepalmed. "Did you do anything to make it worse?"

"I, uh, might've pushed her away."

"Gods, Percy! How do you manage to mess up that badly?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I'm just talented that way."

"Can I ask you why you pushed her away?"

"Well, you just did, so… To answer your question, it's because I remember another girl from my past. Annabeth. I know she's really important to me, but I can't be too sure…"

"The blonde girl from your first test?"

"Yeah. Reyna isn't quite there compared to her."

I imagined what Reyna would do if she was here. "Don't let her catch you saying that." I warned with a slight grin.

"Well, I'm going to have to get myself out of this problem." The tone of his voice showed he'd rather just avoid it. The way he said it made me laugh inwardly. "We're going to be leaving tomorrow morning for the quest, so good night."

"'Night." I said, turning off my light. It had been a long time since a fell asleep with a smile on my face.

…

Of course, if I go to sleep expecting a horrible night, it's not so bad. But if I hope for dreamless sleep and drift off happy, I'm tortured with one of the worst nights yet.

It was thousands of memories, all flashing through my mind. I lived through each one. Some felt like they were hours, but they must have been seconds in real life for all of the scenes that I went through in one night. Each one was different, but there was always one underlying similarity: the ocean. I can't clearly remember all of them, but I always felt terror.

Screaming men. The roar of waves. The rumble of a storm. Noises filled my ears, deafening me and blocking out everything else.

I was drowning, trying to keep my head above water, but waves kept smashing me against a doomed boat. Neptune's blessing gave me the power to breathe underwater in real life, but it's never that in any of these dreams. It went on like this for hours until the boat hit something unseen and started to sink quickly. I heard people on the ship yelling. I knew they were my friends and family, but I couldn't do anything. I was screaming and sobbing for them to save themselves, but I knew they couldn't do anything. I screamed until my throat was raw. Icy water swirled around me, the currents pulling me down. My body was aching from being pounded against the ship and for trying to stay afloat for so long. Helpless, a gigantic wave crashed down on us, bashing my body against something sharp and hard, knocking the breath out of me. Another wave pulled me down. I could see people floating on the surface above me. I faded away…

The vision passed to another. Water all around me. I was writhing in agony and watching my blood stain the water red. The salt burned my wounds, intensifying the pain.

Next, a person grabbing my head and pushing me below the surface. I struggled, losing air and strength. The last thing a saw was the face of the person who killed me, grinning insanely, knowing he would get away with it.

Those were just some of the many. They grated against my sanity. I was losing my will, when I felt someone prodding me. I woke up, relief spreading through me. Free, from all the horrible things.

Percy stood over me, eyes screwed up in concern.

"I woke up because I heard you screaming. I thought something bad happened, but you were asleep, thrashing around. Are you okay?" His green eyes looked cautious, but still worried.

I took a deep breath.

"I'm fine." My voice quavered.

"That's not very convincing. Hazel said you were cursed... Does that have something to do with it?

I hesitantly nodded.

"Will you tell me? You said you would at my feast."

I really hadn't meant that, but I was held to my word.

"I wasn't born with the curse or anything. I received it during the second Titan war. It was a 'gift.'" I spat. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, that's what it was. "I was given more power over the ocean than any child of Neptune ever before. But it's more like the ocean has power over me. There's a reason why the gods don't bless their children with ultimate power. I can't control it. I'm just a simple demigod." I sighed.

"Then why did Neptune give you that much power if you can't control it?" Percy asked angrily.

"Neptune didn't bless me. It was Oceanus. He knew I couldn't handle it, which is why he did this to me. It was during the battle when Jason defeated Krios. If Oceanus could save Mount Othrys, he could save the Titan's foundation. If they were defeated, they could've reformed and regroup over there. But the seas in Oceanus' time were more primal and wild. And vengeful. It it tries to get back at humans for polluting the oceans and at demigods for stopping the Titans. It... it gives me memories that it collects and tortures me with them in my dreams... The sea tries to break my mind so it can use my body like a puppet without me fighting back."

"That's horrible." Percy said softly, and then added another comment "Reyna said… she said you killed someone. I don't really believe her anymore, though."

"It's true." Tears stung my eyes as memories flooded back.

_-Flashback-_

_I was fighting against the seemingly endless scores of monsters with the rest of the Third Legion. I stabbed and slashed with my spear, watching dracaenae dissolve into dust. _

"_Suzie, watch out!" I yelled as a snake-woman tried to throw a net over her._

_She had been slashing at a hellhound, but with my warning, she dodged the net and stabbed the monster in the chink of its armor with her rapier._

"_Thanks," She panted. Her face was covered in grime and sweat. Suzie looked up and cried "Giant! Jump!"_

_We leapt out of the way right as a huge club smashed where we had been. _

_Suzie stood up and smiled sweetly at the huge giant. She began to charmspeak, her voice powerfully ringing through the mountain "Can you drop the club for me? I'd really appreciate it."_

_While the unintelligent monster dropped its club, squishing a hellhound in the process, I snuck up on it and stabbed its thigh. The injury was small compared to its size, though. It let out a yell of pain. Every time it tried to pick its club up, I stabbed its hand. It gave up and tried to smash me with its meaty hands. I was about to jump out of the way when there was this huge surge in my gut. It was like that feeling when I used my water powers, except times a million and incredibly painful. The giant smacked me aside like a rag doll, but I barely felt it because my insides were hurting that badly. I did feel fury that the stupid thing flung me aside like I was nothing. I was leaving my comrades on the battlefield without my help._

_My anger channeled the pain into a form of explosive energy. Suddenly, I felt like there was another huge consciousness stealing my body easily, like taking candy from a baby. It moved me into a kneeling position. Meanwhile, everything about me was being swept away, leaving me vainly trying to fight back. I struggled to hold my own consciousness together. There was a roar of water, which didn't belong, since we were on a mountain. I heard Suzie's concerned, wary voice. I could still barely feel my body, and I sensed Suzie's hand on my shoulder. My head snapped around without my command. It was disorienting and terrifying when you can't even control your own movements. I could feel a sinister smile on my face. A voice underlined with power spoke. I heard Suzie scream._

_The being that stole my body faded away, but it was still there, in my mind, lurking. Waiting._

_As I regained control of my body, my vision cleared. I saw Suzie's dead body on the ground next to me. Everything was soaked, except me. All the monsters had been obliterated, now sopping piles of dust._

"_What happened?" I asked, looking around. My throat was dry and my muscles ached. _

_The Third Legion stared back at me in horror. _

"_What's wrong? Who killed Suzie?" I demanded, my voice rising in panic and anger._

"_We need to take her back to Lupa." Erin muttered to the rest of the group. She looked at me cautiously._

"_Do you remember anything?" She asked._

"_No! Who did this to Suzie?" I repeated. "I'll kill them!"_

_Erin hesitated. "You did, Gwen."_

_I sat there in shock. It was a while before I could gather myself to respond._

"_You have to be wrong! I wouldn't do that!" I pleaded with my Legion, hoping it wasn't true._

_Their faces showed me what happened._

"_No… NO!" I screamed. Suzie was my best friend. I couldn't have killed her. I never would have done that in a million years. I collapsed on the ground, sobbing._

"_We've got to take her back to the infirmary and see Lupa. She's in trauma." I heard Erin say somewhere around me, but I didn't care. Suzie was dead. And I murdered her._

_Erin murmured a spell and I felt sleep slide over me. I wanted to be the one who had died._

_-End of Flashback-_

They had told me everything that happened. I had been in the infirmary for weeks, unable to recover from the shock and depression.

Percy saw the tears running down my cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." I smiled weakly at him.

"We're going to get rid of your curse." Percy announced firmly.

"I hope so." I really didn't put too much faith in that.

"If you need anything, just tell me." It was nice to have a big brother to help me. Siblings should know they're really lucky.

"I will."

There was silence, but not so uncomfortable any more.

"Good night, Percy."

"G'night"

**That's what's wrong with Gwen. I hope you find it creative, because that took a lot of thinking to make up. It's original, at least. Maybe that'll make up for how I created Reyna's character, Jason/Reyna fans. I'm not so good with emotional scenes. :/ Tell me what you think about it!**

**By the way, I'm going to congratulate Argentina on their 3-0 win against Costa Rica! Messi assisted two of them. Just saying. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had a writer's block.**

**I hope Gwen's problem makes sense because I was working out all the kinks and stuff that didn't make sense for a long time. I'm trying not to be those people that make the questers avoid all action. They **_**will**_** be impeded, attacked, ect. **

**To Happy HS, in The Lost Hero, Jason calls Krios Krios instinctively, so I'm going with what Rick Riordan wrote. Sadly, I'm really not that great with the Roman names. I'll try to keep them in check, but sometimes I forget and I put the Greek ones.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. Go look at the books. They don't say 'Nomisaur' on them, they say something that starts with and 'R' and ends with an 'ick Riordan.'**

**Chapter 11:**

**PERCY**

I woke up and looked over at Gwen. She was sleeping peacefully now, not screaming and writhing anymore. That had been seriously scary when I was first woken up by her. I thought someone had attacked her or something. Instead, she was still sleeping, but she wasn't just lying on her bed like a normal person does. But I guess you couldn't call Gwen normal. I thought she was possessed or something when I realized she wasn't awake. Which she sort of is, in a way. Anyway, now that I know what's wrong with her, it wasn't so bad. Reyna had made her sound a lot worse that she really is. Still, Gwen killed someone.

Speaking of Reyna, she is going to be a problem.

I really am regretting the decision of letting her come on the quest. I wanted to trust her. She had seemed nice and welcoming. Well, she was after I beat Taz in sword fighting, which didn't help the idea that Reyna was innocent.

Sighing, I got out of bed. This wasn't a bright start to a quest.

I got ready early and walked outside along the beach trying to clear my mind, but my upcoming task kept finding its way back. The prophecy had barely made sense to me, but Hazel helped me figure out a couple of lines. I wished she had chosen to come with us, but she was against it. Might as well get as much help from her before we set out.

I walked around to try and find Hazel. It was late enough for people to start stirring and getting ready for their day. Finally, I spotted her by the pavilion, on her way to the Coliseum.

"Hazel! Wait up!" I called, jogging over to her.

"Hey, Percy. Excited for your quest?" She smiled when she saw me come over.

"Yeah, I just was about to ask you some questions about it, actually. Did you figure out anymore stuff about the prophecy?" I asked hopefully.

"Let's see… besides going to Alaska, not much else I can tell you. I wish I could tell you more." Hazel sighed unhappily. "Well, this quest is obviously going to help us find Jason, so I'm just impatient to give you more information, but I can't. I think you should go to the bay that holds your memories. It seems important that you get them back if the Oracle specified on them. But which bay is it? Is it a nameless, hidden bay? Is it figurative? Is it famous?" She sounded frustrated. "I feel like I should tell you everything about the stupid prophecy since I lived in Alaska, but I can't, it's just so annoyingly vague."

"You lived in Alaska?" I blurted out. My ADHD decided to act up randomly. Thanks.

"Yeah… I lived there with my dad."

"Who's your dad?"

"Alex Potter."

"Is he nice?"

"He's dead."

"Oh." I'm rapidly learning that I have a talent for accidentally choosing the one most uncomfortable, awkward topic.

"He worked for a national park in Alaska. We went hiking through a glacier in it, which was one of his favorite things to do. I didn't know I was a demigod then. Some _ventii_ took advantage of our solidarity. They killed my dad. Blew him over the edge. From there, I was running away from them until I found the Wolf House. And now I'm here, ever since then. That's why I didn't want to go." Hazel said. She sounded gloomy but at the same time, burning with hatred. "If you find any storm spirits, please give them a horrible, painful, agonizing death."

"Um, okay." I was surprised by the venom in her voice. Hazel is usually a bright, happy person.

"Well, back to your prophecy. If the palace is made of ice, maybe the ice queen is in it. It would make sense. But if it's in a river, I wouldn't know where to tell you to go. There are a lot of rivers in Alaska. I don't know who she might be, though." She said.

"Are there any patrons in myths?" I asked. "Or a patron's son?"

"Well, I'm not so great with mythology, but no patrons or patron's sons as far as I know. Outside of myths, Juno was Jason's patron. Why would we have to defeat her son, if she's the patron? Hephaestus probably wouldn't want to work with an ice queen, and anyway, the gods aren't allowed out of Olympus. I guess it's another patron." Hazel said thoughtfully.

I grumbled about how Oracles should really learn how to specify.

"Well, at least Gwen will lose her curse." Hazel tried to bring save the conversation from doom and depression, like almost all conversations about prophecies eventually go to.

_What if she doesn't lose it and our enemies win?_ I thought glumly, but I responded "Yeah, that'll be good."

Hazel sighed and said "Well, you better be getting ready. You're about to leave, right?"

"Huh?" I had been getting lost in cynical thoughts and Armageddon. "Oh, yeah. Didn't notice the time. Thanks for your help and everything."

"Don't die!" Hazel called as I strode away to the Neptune cabin.

"I'll try not to!" Well, at least one person cares about me. Other than Annabeth. My mind always managed to drift off to her. It was frustrating because I could barely remember her. How can someone think so much about another person they barely know?

I walked in and found Gwen had already packed my bag. Hers was already slung on her shoulder, about to leave.

"Here you go." She handed me the pack. "I was about to go, but you weren't prepared yet, so I got this ready for you. Lupa doesn't like it when people are late. Thanks for letting me go with you… not many other campers would even consider bringing me along." Gwen smiled gratefully at me.

"Oh, well thanks for that." I took the backpack from her. "It's nothing, anyways. It'll get rid of your curse, right?"

"Right." Doubt flickered across her green eyes. "We should get going. Come on!" She said cheerfully, but it sounded forced.

We waited in front of the cliffs for the others. Bobby and Dakota showed up together, arguing about what generation of Pokemon is the best.

"It's obviously the color versions! Those were the best! How could you beat any of those? They're classic!" Bobby yelled.

"The color versions are nothing! Who has a Gameboy Color anymore? They newer games are the best! They're a lot more fun for one, and you can get all the old Pokemon in it, anyways!" Dakota disagreed.

"The new ones suck! They're so freakin' easy!"

"They're perfectly fine!"

"No, the color—"

"Black and white—"

"Shut UP!" Bobby screamed. "The black and white version Pokemon are deformed blobs! No one cares for them!"

Dakota was about to make a seething answer, but instead turned to me and fumed "Which one do you think is better; the new Pokemon games or the old ones?"

"Uh, no memories of childhood here." I said blankly.

"He's obviously a color version fan!" Bobby announced.

"Who likes the _color versions_?" Dakota spat.

"Uh, I do!"

"I'm sorry, who, with common sense, likes the color versions?"

Gwen and I looked at each other, amused. We let them continue to scream about Pokemon.

Lupa found us and sat, waiting for our last party member.

"Are you going to make them stop?" I asked her.

"I gave up on that a long time ago." She sighed, causing me to laugh. Bobby and Dakota are idiots, I thought fondly.

Reyna finally showed up.

"Hey, Shark Boy," Reyna greeted, smiling with her dazzlingly white teeth.

"Shark Boy?" I questioned, pretending to be offended. "If I'm that, then you have to be Lava Girl."

"I'm the daughter of the sun god. It's fine by me." Reyna shrugged. "When are we getting started?"

Bobby stopped arguing with Dakota long enough to say frigidly "We were waiting for you. You're late."

"Do not take this quest so lightly, Reyna Muzac." Lupa snarled.

"I'm sorry Lupa. It won't happen again." Reyna said, bowing her head, but she didn't sound that ashamed.

Lupa narrowed her eyes at her but turned to me and growled "Here are your supplies. A few hundred dollars in mortal money, gold aureus, ambrosia squares, and a canteen of nectar." She flicked her tail in a gesture for Sophia to come forth and hand me a bag containing the items.

Her gray eyes bore into mine. "Good luck," she said before stepping back into the crowd that had gathered.

I felt like she should be coming with me. Dizziness came over me for a few seconds as blurry shadows came over my mind. They weren't even real memories, but they were something.

"Percy?" Gwen asked, concerned.

I shook my head to clear my mind and reassured "I'm fine."

Lupa raised her voice so that everyone could hear "Perseus Jackson will embark on his quest with companions Bobby Travlars, Dakota Kellings, Gwendolyn Blaine, and Reyna Muzac. Good luck."

I looked at the sea of faces that gravely but hopefully gazed back. This quest could get their hero back where he belonged. I would do everything I could to help them find Jason. They are my new friends and family, even if all of them didn't exactly like me.

"Come on," I said to my friends. They cast one last look at their home before plunging into the darkness of the tunnels.

**Not too exciting, but still, it's a chapter. I'm looking at myths to find monsters and such to meet them on their quest. By the way, I'm a color version fan. All the new Pokemon suck. The ones before them were actually based on real animals, but the black and white version ones look like they just emerged from primordial ooze. I'll try to update soon, but no guarantees. Thanks for reading! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Why hello! On a note about the story, I have never been to San Francisco, so all locations are made up. Been researching mythology.**

**Sorry I haven't updated. My dad had to use the computer a lot lately. **

**Disclaimer: If I was Rick Riordan, I would have written much better than this. I'm not him, so I don't own PJO or HoO. Here is my version of his story, though!**

**Chapter 12:**

**BOBBY**

We emerged from the dark tunnel into the mortal world, full of danger, monsters, and ancient evil. Fun!

"I still can't believe you like the new games better than the old ones." I grumbled to Dakota.

Dakota opened his mouth to reply but Percy interrupted "Please don't start on this, guys."

Humph. He doesn't understand the importance of Pokemon debates. The subtleties of Pokemon selection, opinions, and preferring the right ones escape him. Dakota did understand, to a certain level. Not as much as Color version fans, obviously, but enough.

"So how are we getting to Alaska?" Dakota asked.

"We could go by plane—" Reyna suggested but was soon cut off.

"No!" Gwen and Percy yelled simultaneously. "I'd rather not be zapped out of the sky by Jupiter." Gwen grumbled, eyeing at the sky nervously.

"Okay, so how about by bus or something?" I put out. "No god of buses trying and kill you, right?"

"By bus. Sounds good, but we have to keep an eye out for monsters. Two children of the Big Three and three other kids of major gods are going to send out a strong aura." Percy warned.

"Oh, I'm sure you can handle it." Reyna gushed with flattery, but Percy just glanced at her before continuing.

"Do you guys know where a bus station is? I don't really know where we are at all."

"Well, we have to get more into the city. We're too far into the suburbs and roads, so we're going to have to walk, unless you want to hitch a ride with some complete strangers." Gwen offered.

"Walk." Dakota spoke for all of us.

I tried to start up a conversation that wasn't about Pokemon and wouldn't end up as a heated debate. "Have you remembered anything about your past?" I asked Percy.

Everyone perked up at my question. They all wanted to know about him, too. He looked uncomfortable at the scrutiny. "Well, not too much. Some stuff about people. I think I had a best friend,"

Dakota muttered "That's a shocker."

Percy went on as if he hadn't heard him, which I'm sure he had. "His name was Grover. A satyr."

"A faun." We all replied in a peeved voice.

"Yeah, that thing." He said absently without paying attention to our anger. "Annabeth, too."

Reyna glared at him when he said that. Gwen looked like she was struggling to keep down a grin.

"I really want to see her… to find out about… stuff. I want to know more about her." I was surprised by the amount of longing and want from his voice. "Also, I think I was in some kind of fight or war. Something bad. And because of my tests, I remembered Luke. He was important in the battles. I think he was a son of Hermes…"

"Mercury! Okay? It's Mercury! Stop using the Greek names!" Dakota snarled, eyes flashing. Dakota didn't seem to like Percy at all, really. His stubbornness on using Greek names irritated Dakota, making him a lot crankier than he is. "The Greeks were lesser, weaker. They couldn't stand up against us. If you're going to use the names, you're going to be one of them. A weakling. So are you?" He challenged.

"What's wrong with the Greeks? They were more or less peaceful and had good culture—"

"Gods, why did I ever decide to come with you? You can't choose right from wrong and you tried to kill my best friend! If I was this Annabeth, I would never want you to come back. I wouldn't put up an effort to find you."

Percy stopped abruptly and spun around to face Dakota. He seemed to tower over him even though he was barely taller. "Say that again." He said in a dangerously soft voice.

"Dakota, come on, stop it. We're supposed to be working together, not fighting." I pleaded.

Dakota, never the smart one, defiantly looked up at Percy and announced in his face "Annabeth. Could. Do. _Way_. Better."

Percy snapped and decked Dakota in the face. My best friend staggered back, holding his face, but charged at Percy after a few moments, yelling "You don't punch the Dakota in the f—!" Percy swung at his face again, shutting him up. After a few seconds, Dakota and Percy were wrestling on the ground, trying to strangle each other. They both obviously had experience at doing this, which I'm not really sure shows about their characters.

"Whoa, guys, stop!" I tried to pull each other apart, but they both tried to attack me with the same ferocious, maniac energy instead. I backed up quickly. "Help me!" I called to Gwen and Reyna.

They both came to my aid. Dakota and Percy tried to assail them too, but Gwen just glared at them. "You _really_ don't want to attack me." Gwen said, eyes flashing angrily, which got them back on their feet without us making them. Dakota had a black eye and several bruises that were turning an unhealthy shade of green. Percy on the other hand, was perfectly sound. Of course.

"Really, we shouldn't be wasting time and energy pulling you two off each other!" Reyna scolded.

"Tell him that!" Percy pointed to Dakota. "He's the idiot who started everything! You shouldn't assume things about me, and especially Annabeth. You don't know anything about me!" He seethed.

"Neither do you!" Dakota shot back.

That threw Percy. He picked up his pack that had been discarded on the ground and began walking away.

"Let's go." He growled. Gwen and Reyna were the only one that followed him.

"Well?" Percy demanded stopped walking. He looked expectantly at me. Gwen sent a pleading look at us.

"Hold on, I'm giving him some nectar." I said, dripping the drink of the gods onto his black eye and bruises. I put the medical supplies back in my bag. "Come on." I told Dakota.

"No."

"What?"

"I'm not going."

"Dakota, come on," I sighed. "You _know_ you're never supposed to question leaders."

"_He_ is no leader of mine. I don't see why this guy thinks he's so great! Jason's going to come back soon enough and this idiot will be put back in his place, wherever that is." Dakota glared hostilely at Percy.

"Please?" Gwen said, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, but I'm only going because this'll get Jason back. He'll set everything back to how it was, without him." Dakota gestured at Jackson. "How it _should_ be."

He slung his backpack over his shoulder and stalked off. Percy waited for me before walking off.

"Gods, he hates you." I murmured.

"I know." Percy sighed.

"Like _really_ hates you" I marveled. I didn't know Dakota could be that hostile.

"Not helping, man."

"Sorry" I laughed sheepishly. "Look, Percy," I said, now serious. "I think we need to get your memories back. It seems weird, all of these things are happening and Jason's gone and you turn up. No offense, but you're weird too."

"Gee, thanks."

"It's just… Why do you always have to be so _different_?"

"I'm being me. Why is that so bad?" Percy complained.

"It's not you. It's just that you have this aura that's just so easy to hate…"

"Loving your compliments."

"Why do you have to be so… Greek-y? Do you have to use the names? And why aren't you Roman-like? It's like you're not one of us!" All of that tumbled out really fast. I know, I know, sounds ridiculous, right? It's not like you could be a demigod and not Roman. Ridiculous.

Percy was silent this time.

"Let's catch up with the others." I said after a while.

We walked for a long time with the others. Dakota and Percy radiated a stoniness so that all attempts for conversation died a horrible, awkward death. Finally, we reached a dirty bus stop that was filled with homeless people as the sun was going down.

"Is it just me, or does this seem kind of home-y?" Percy muttered to me.

"Yeah, it's just you." I assured.

"Five tickets to…" Reyna talked to the guy in the booth.

"So do we have enough money to get to Alaska?" Gwen asked as we drifted off, but close enough to dash back to Reyna really fast if we had to. Naturally.

Percy and I shrugged. "I barely spend any time outside of the Academy." I admitted.

"No memory." Percy said, looking twitchy. "No monsters… yet." He muttered.

"It's not lucky to talk like that." Gwen said sharply.

"Luck." Percy snorted. "That's dependable."

Reyna walked up to us. "Come on, I got the tickets. The bus should be coming soon."

We walked over to the bus stop to wait for a while. The wait was jumpy. There was no possible way we could have been out in the mortal world without attracting any monsters. It was turning dark when the bus pulled up and people stepped out.

"Let's go." Reyna muttered, glancing over her shoulder.

As we stepped onto the bus, I thought I heard hooves clopping on the concrete floor.

**Do you know what the source of the hoof steps are? I'll save it for the next chapter. Teehee!**

**Ebony Angelz, well, it's not exactly like that. It's not all about Gwen! Rick Riordan said Percy's going to be in it, but he's not going to be the main character. I put her in it because, well, she's just that awesome. She's my favorite Roman. How do you not like the troubled character?**

**I'll try to update soon! Thanks for all reviews, flames or not!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I just want to say, thank you AliceXShunMEGAFan17. That was quite an influx of reviews. I'm glad you liked it. I'm trying to write as fast as I can with good chapters as possible. I really appreciate all the reviews!**

**To wdr gfvbjnkm, if it's so special, why does Drew have it? Anyways, I named Suzie after a girl I know that was so ridiculously nice to everyone to the point of saint-ness, I figured she could have an awesome power.**

**To kelly clarkson omg, I'm trying to rotate Percy's point of view with the others. I didn't know that he'd be mainly with Hazel and Frank until, around chapter 8, so I figured I would just carry on as it is now.**

**I forgot to mention it earlier, but did no one get their last names except Bobby's? I thought Reyna's was obvious. Reyna Muzac? Music? Daughter of Apollo? Dakota Kellings, come on, what does it sound like? He's a son of the god of war. Kellings, killings? Gwen's last name, Blaine, isn't symbolic. I just like that guy in Glee. He also did A Very Potter Musical. And did no one notice Taz? At least, did you guess what thing the hoofed thing is? If you did, you probably guessed wrong, no offense. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not any of the characters or any of Mr. Riordan's books. They are all fantastic, by the way. Sorry for the long Author's Note!**

**Chapter 13:**

**GWENDOLYN**

We sat down on the bus. I felt my eyes closing, but I really didn't want to fall drift off in public transportation. Screaming bloody murder, asleep, on a bus, is not the best way to stay inconspicuous.

Dakota sat as far as possible, yet a safe distance, just in case, from Percy. I sat on one side of Percy, with Reyna on the other side of him. That didn't exactly make me the happiest person alive. We ate some dinner that we bought from the concession at the bus stop. Mmmm, Lays and a stale peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My favorite.

After we ate, Reyna quickly fell asleep on Percy's shoulder. Sadly, Percy didn't seem too unhappy about that. The bus trundled along the road in the dark of night.

I'll keep watch first," I murmured to the others. "You guys get some rest."

They nodded and soon drifted off, except my brother. He looked like he was focusing on something in the distance.

"Thinking about Annabeth?" I whispered, trying not to wake up the other people on the bus.

"Hm?" He said like he just noticed me for the first time. "Well…" He blushed. "Yeah. It's like I know she's intertwined with almost everything, I just can't _remember_. It's so infuriating to know that it's there, but just beyond my grasp."

"You must really like her if you flipped out on Dakota like that. It looked like you were ready to stomp his face in or something."

His expression tightened. "I can't remember everything, but she saved my life… it's really foggy, but I think Annabeth took a knife for me. It just came back to me when Dakota was talking. I don't remember the order of the memories. I don't know if she died or if one of those memories was after…" Percy sighed unhappily. "I want to see her, to make sure she's okay."

We sat there quietly for a while. There was some noise in the distance…

"Did I hear hooves?" I hissed to Percy, looking around suspiciously.

He listened silently. "If you did, it's gone." He said with a shrug. "Maybe it's nothing."

I wasn't so sure of that. There was something following us, but Percy insisted I get some rest and Bobby took the next watch. I wasn't tormented with nightmares, but I think that was only because if someone barely touched me, I would've shot up, spear in hand and ready for anything.

Eventually, the bus stopped at the next station. Reyna went to go get tickets for our next ride, but that was early tomorrow morning. I didn't want to stay out in the open at night, but we were in some small town in northern California and none of us knew where to stay, except maybe sleep on a bench.

"Okay, since none of us know where we are, I guess we'll just sleep out in the open until the next bus comes along." Percy told the rest of the group. Everyone nodded, except Dakota, who glowered at just the sound of Percy's voice. "I'll take the first watch, you guys sleep." He said, to which even Dakota had no argument.

We found a bench next to some woods, but Reyna hogged most of the space so Percy barely had enough space to sit on one end while the others had to lie on the ground. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come, but it didn't. I was idly thinking when a girl's voice drifted over towards us.

"_Percy?"_

Percy shot up like he'd been stung. He looked around wildly for the girl.

"Annabeth?" He called.

"Percy, what are you doing?" I asked, sitting up, but he just ignored me and kept searching.

"_Come on Seaweed Brain, I'm over here."_

Percy suddenly stared at the woods and sprinted into it like his life depended on it.

"Percy, where are you going?" I yelled at him as I ran to follow him. I purposely kick Bobby on my way over to Percy so he'd wake up and be on watch since Percy left his post.

"Wha-? What's going on?" He mumbled groggily, scrambling for his sword.

"Idiot!" I muttered. Why did Percy have to run off without a warning? At least give us an idea of where you're going to do before you dash off.

"_Hurry, Percy!" _The voice urged right as I spoke.

"Stop!" I hollered. I saw Percy's figure somewhere in the dark shadows in front of me hesitate, look back, and then continue running.

"Gods, can't you just wait up a little bit longer?" I grumbled.

"Annabeth!" He yelled. "Where are you?"

The voice didn't answer, just occasionally calling out his name, urging him on, luring him—us—deeper into the forest. I hope Bobby and the others were awake and not in any imminent danger, because I had this feeling we were.

My mind went through all the possibilities that it could be. Most weren't good. I was catching up to Percy, trying to tell him to stop, that it could be a trap. I was gaining. Ten feet, nine, eight, seven, closer and closer until he was just an arm's length away when he abruptly stopped. I crashed into his back, making us both fall down.

He got up fast and froze. The voice whispered pitifully.

"_Percy, help. I'm over here."_

"Percy, it could be a trap." I hissed when I got up. What is my brother made out of? Stone? I rubbed my arm where I had bumped into him.

However, he wasn't listening. He walked into a clearing where the voice came from like he was in a trance.

"Annabeth?" Percy said eagerly.

I followed him into the little meadow.

"Percy, let's go, there's no one here—" I noticed something in the shadows. The figure stepped out, smiling from ear to ear. Literally. I didn't know that was physically possible. It was certainly not going to help us. More like eat us. I fingered a little golden dolphin on my necklace. All I had to do would be to pull it off and I would have my imperial gold spear.

The monster looked straight at Percy and said in an identical voice to the one from the girl in Percy's test. Annabeth's voice.

"_Thank the gods you're here, Percy."_

Percy backed up, eyes wide.

"B-but where's Annabeth?"

The creature thing laughed Annabeth's laugh. It would've sounded nice, but coming from a monster, it sounded sinister and wrong. I got a closer look at it. It was about the size of a horse and it walked on all fours, with a lion's tail and mane, and haunches of… a deer? A stag, I guess. It also had a beaver-like head and a mouth that went from ear to ear. It was smiling, showing that it had no teeth, just ridges of bone, like one big tooth without a gum. I looked down at its feet. They were cloven.

"Percy, that's the thing that's been following us. Remember? The hoof steps?" I hissed to him. "I know what it is. It's a Leukrokotta!"

He stared blankly at me, as if saying "…"

I sighed. "Just kill it! Bobby, Dako—" I cut myself off.

Then I realized we had done exactly what it had wanted us to. Percy had been lured deep into the forest, with me chasing after him. Now, Percy and I were far, far away from the others. We were all alone, against one of the most cunning monsters out there. I remember Lupa had said it was as brave as a lion, as fast as a horse, as strong as a bull, and very, very clever. They could mimic human voices and use that to lure people away from safety to devour them.

"Percy, we're going to have to fight this thing alone." I said, staring at the Leukrokotta, making sure it didn't try to suddenly spring on us. I pulled the dolphin charm off my necklace and it transformed into my nameless, but faithful, spear. The tip, if you looked closely, was shaped like a dolphin. Percy squared his jaw and pulled out Riptide.

The Leukrokotta chuckled. It stood there, analyzing us, when it suddenly pounced on me. Lupa was right, it was brave. Jumping on someone with a spear isn't something for the faint hearted. I lifted up my golden lance to stab it as it came down, but it batted it out of the way. It would've landed on me, but I rolled away, scrambling for my weapon that was now knocked a long distance away from me. _Dear Jupiter, that thing is strong._

I heard Percy confront it. I wasn't as worried about his safety as much as mine. He had the mark of Achilles; I had an uncontrollable power that could violently explode out at any point in time. He was going to be fine.

The lion/beaver/stag/hyena-like thing had its hands full with Percy. He was an experienced monster-fighter, even if he had only been trained for a few days to anyone's memory.

I joined in once I retrieved my spear, slashing and stabbing, but the little (not really little) devil was _fast_. It dodged and swiped with its paws like lightning. The worse thing was, it was just grinning horribly the whole time, as if this was all just a fun game. That every time, it won and got a prize to eat at the end. As if this wasn't our lives on the line.

Finally, Percy let out a yell and struck downwards on the abomination as hard as he could with his blade. The Leukrokotta tried to dodge it, but it still got a good sized cut on its leg and was limping, slowing it down to make it easier to destroy. The wound oozed with golden ichor. I had an opening to kill it as it was still recovering from the shock that it was actually injured.

I stabbed down at its neck, but it just looked at me and spoke in Suzie's gentle voice.

"_Are you going to do this, Gwen? After everything that you've already done to me?" _

All power in that thrust died. I stared at it with hurt and distress, to which it showed how much it cared about my emotions by swiping me with its paw, slamming me down onto the hard, densely-packed dirt.

My head started throbbing. I couldn't think straight. I heard Percy yell in anger. I watched him parry all of the monster's blows and feint a stab only to behead the creature. A high-pitched scream in Annabeth's voice rang out over the forest. The Leukrokotta crumbled into to yellow dust. Its head remained.

Percy stumbled over to me and whispered "Are you okay?"

I tried to nod, but that just made my head throb worse.

"It spoke… in her voice. I didn't want to kill it. Annabeth…" He mumbled incoherently. He regained his posture and said "Let's get you some ambrosia."

"Percy? Is it just me… and my concussion… or is the Leukrokotta… reforming?" My words slurred and struggled to come out.

Percy looked at the pile of dust. "I think you're right… But how is that possible? It's supposed to go to Tartarus."

Black spots danced around my vision. "Hurry… back to others… help walk…" I mumbled, trying to get away from the horrible thing. "Go before… reform…"

Percy carried me in his arms as I fought to stay awake.

"Er, Gwen?"

"Yeah…?"

"We're kind of lost."

"Left… trail… when running… stomped down grass…"

"I can't see the trail."

"You… blind?" I grumbled deliriously.

I had to point him in the right direction to get us back. My brother has to rely on the concussed, nearly passed out girl to lead him, the supposed leader of the quest. Of course. Sigh.

We eventually reached the others. Reyna scowled when she saw someone in Percy's arms, but it faded away somewhat when she saw it was just me.

"What happened to Gwen?" Dakota demanded.

"Where'd you run off to?" Bobby said at the same time, but a lot friendlier.

"Leukrokotta… attack… lure with voice… reforming." I said faintly.

"What do you mean by reforming?" Reyna said, confused.

"When we killed it, the dust started reforming. It was healing without going to Tartarus first." I let out a moan to get their easily distracted attentions. "Do you have the medicine?" Percy asked. "Were you attacked too?

"No, we're fine. You fought off a Leukrokotta?" Reyna added at the end incredulously. Like I said. Easily distracted.

"Concussed… person would like… some acknowledgement." I piped up, nearly blacking out.

"Here, I got some ambrosia. Eat, Gwen." Bobby said, handing me a square.

"It would be nice if you didn't run of to go play with dangerous monsters without any warnings." Dakota snapped.

"If you had someone you loved that's gone and you heard her voice asking for help, what would you do? Ignore it?" Percy said quietly.

"Well, I wouldn't leave you guys without a heads u—"

"So you would just leave Hazel by herself?"

Dakota blushed furiously. "Hey, don't bring her into this, okay? That's completely different!"

"Is it?"

"Girl talk… later… you married couple… bus here…" I drifted off into the comforting, warm nothingness of unconsciousness.

**I've never had a concussion before, so it's probably not that accurate. Eh, play along with my inaccurate fantasies. Please?**

**So anyways, the hoof steps, wasn't Grover if you thought it was. I'm not too sure about the Leukrokotta's appearance because there weren't too many descriptions and a lot of times the description was confused with another monster, the Crocotta. There are several spellings for Leukrokotta and its slang name, so I just chose the coolest looking one.**

**That's for all the reviews! That was really nice of all of you. It went from 35 to 51, even if twelve of those reviews can from one person. Virtual cookies for all of you!**


	14. Chapter 14

'**Ello! How are you, Reader? I was just wondering, Appreciated Reader, what is your favorite Pokemon? Mine is Chinchou, Oddish, and Giratina. I don't know why, but I think Giratina is adorable and loveable, which makes no sense. The other two are weak, pathetic, and feeble. But they are all awesome in their own ways.**

**Thanks for all the kind reviews! I try to write in Rick Riordan's style, and I guess you guys like it.**

**To wouldsoluvtazifiwereaguy, knowing from your name, you have obviously been watching your Starship. Good girl!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. I'm getting bored trying to change up the disclaimer. Sigh.**

**Chapter 14:**

**DAKOTA**

Percy propped Gwen up on the bench as she passed out again.

"I hope this doesn't become a routine." Percy stated.

Just the sound of his voice irked me. How do you _get_ irked in the first place? What do you do with being irked? Percy managed to irk me. He's so irksome he could _irk_ someone. Not annoy, but irk. _Irk._

"No one wants to hear you complain," I growled. Everything I said to him seems to slip out with more anger than I meant to put. It like he managed to awake a cranky, hostile me. And I hated him for it. This shows what he's doing to me. "I carried _you_ into camp and showed you around. I wasn't complaining."

"Well, you are now." Percy muttered under his breath.

"Why are you so cranky with him?" Bobby asked.

"He irks me."

Bobby looked like he was trying not to laugh. "He irks you. That's pretty intense."

"Why does he have to be so annoying?"

"He's Percy." Bobby sighed. "You're going to have to get used to it. He's the quest leader. No changing that."

"Well, the quest better wrap up soon because I really," I thought of the appropriate words to describe it. He'd never wronged me. He was just… him. And being him sounded bad to me. "Strongly dislike him."

"I know how you feel, though. Why is he so unlike us? It's like he's _trying_ not to fit in. He's all… loose. He can't be organized or… Roman-y."

"Great vocabulary."

"Thanks." He said absently. The bus slowly made its way down the street, like a slug. It probably moves as fast as one. "What do you think's going to happen because of this quest?"

"Hopefully, Percy will go away and we'll get back Jason."

"And maybe we'll get back Reyna." He mumbled under his breath.

"What do you mean by that? Is the one we're with a Reyna imposter?" I said, my ADHD, or maybe it's just me, jumping to conclusions. Hey, on a quest, expect the unexpected, or something cliché like that.

"Of course she's not an imposter! But haven't you noticed?" Bobby said, looking at me as if it was obvious.

"What am I missing?"

"So much, Dakota, so much." He said, shaking his head. "She's… been power-hungry."

I just said stupidly "Reyna? As in _our_ Reyna?"

"Yes, is there any other Reyna you know?" Bobby sighed exasperatedly.

"Well… you could be…" I thought about it for a second. "Absolutely right. Why didn't I notice this sooner?"

"Because you're you, Dakota."

"Hey!"

"So you're not Dakota?"

"Well, of course of I am!"

"Admitting that you're Dakota is admitting you're an idiot."

I grumbled, knowing that Bobby would just twist my words if I protested. I glanced over at Reyna. She was gesturing for us to come over to her. The bus had pulled up to the stop.

"Come on. Reyna doesn't really trust me anymore because I don't trust her either. And Dakota?"

"Yeah?"

"Resolve things with Percy. I know you don't like him, but do it for the rest of us."

I sighed in defeat. "All right, I'll try. But if I get in another fistfight with him, don't blame me. It was the idiot."

We boarded the bus, Gwen walking unsteadily. She had woken up and drank some nectar, which helped a lot. I was about to sit next to Fish when an old man with a cane and lots of scars and evidence of old wounds like that pushed pass me and plopped himself next to Prissy.

I tried not to show my relief. Awkward conversation successfully avoided. I apologetically looked at Bobby and sat in the seat behind Percy.

The old man whom I'm assuming is a veteran because of all the scars and his oldness started talking to Fish.

"So, how is your day, son?" He sounded quite cheerful for an old dude who shoves aside people to sit in the one seat next to the most annoying guy on the entire bus.

"Er, um, I'm fine." He shifted away from the guy. It was obvious he was uncomfortable. I guess the veteran wasn't too good with people skills because he didn't seem to notice that.

"Say, do you like horses? I'm looking for a particular one and I want to know if you could help me in any way." He said amiably.

"Yeah, I like horses." Percy sounded enthusiastic. Why was he talking to a stranger? Well… I guess there's no harm talking to an old, friendly veteran. "Actually, my dad—" He cut himself off quickly. "Er, my dad likes horses too. He was good with them."

"The name is Ron. Yours?" He stuck out his hand to shake which Fish took.

"Percy."

The old man's eyes glittered greedily for a second, but it turned back into a good-natured smile. Creepy. He and Percy talked about equestrian stuff, et cetera, et cetera, boring stuff, blah. I found myself being lulled to sleep by the dullness. They talked about that for the _whole entire ride_. How they could do that without dying of boredom escapes me.

The bus finally dragged itself to the bus stop.

"It was nice talking to you. I've got to, go, though." Percy said, smiling to his new friend.

"It's my stop, too! I can give you a ride to wherever you're going next. Or you could stay the night over at my house." The old man invited.

"I really appreciate the offer, but I—"

The veteran grabbed Percy's wrist lightning fast and dragged him off the bus. "No, no I insist! You've been so kind to me after the world and the gods were so harsh."

Gods? I jumped up and followed Percy, grabbing my pack as I jogged to catch up. The rest of the group trailed behind me. Why does he always have to run off? He's wasting our time. We followed the pair through the station that lead to an open market. It was the middle of the day and I guess shopping time for the townspeople. They bustled around, making it hard to find Fish. Side alleys and intersecting streets popped up everywhere. I guess Ron-veteran knew this place well, because he kept making turns and cutting across traffic with confidence.

"I have a bad feeling about the old guy. Try and stay hidden but keep close in case it turns bad." I muttered to my friends.

"Ron, I have to go. I have some people that I have to be with and I really need to get back to them."

"Does one of them happen to be Jason?" The man stopped to ask hungrily.

"No—wait, how do you know Jason?"

"I have my sources. It was really nice talking to you. I'm sorry that we will have to destroy you, Jackson, but you are a small price to pay to get back at the gods for taking my prized horse, my Pegasus. You will be just one of the many demigods to die, though, so don't feel too bad!" He said cheerily.

"What? Your Pegasus? You know about demigods?" Percy said confused. He said the next part slowly, like he was figuring it out. "Bellerophon. With a little bit of imagination, Ron. The guy with the Pegasus. Zeus knocked you out from the sky."

He scowled at the name of Zeus. "You use Greek names, yet you are accompanied with Romans." He looked straight at me, despite the fact I'd been trying to hide among the mortals. "Interesting."

He looked like he recognized me. "He's the one who accompanied Jason to capture my Pegasus and present him to Neptune. That doesn't help your case, Percy." He hissed.

Percy looked around until he spotted me. "What? Him? And Pegasus isn't yours," He added hotly. "Pegasus is immortal and free. No one owns him."

Bellerophon thundered "When Gaea rules, he will be mine! I saddled him, I fought with him, I _owned_ him! With him, I slew the Chimera! I completed impossible tasks meant for my death! Pegasus would have been mine for as long as I lived! But when I tried to fly to Olympus, a simple visit, Zeus made my own steed, _mine_, throw me off! I fell down to earth and became blind, deaf, and crippled, searching for my beautiful steed, shunned by men, forever wandering till my death. In the Underworld, I heard a whispering," His eyes shone hungrily. "Gaea promised me that I would get my Pegasus back. All I had to do was pledge my loyalty to her. She healed me of most of my wounds, and I would get my horse back and topple the gods at the same time! The same gods that struck me down would be given the same treatment I received!" He relished.

"How did you get out of the Underworld? You're dead! And didn't Athena tell you where to find Pegasus and gave you a golden saddle?" Percy said, confused. I gestured for the others to close in.

The insane old man just laughed and waved his hand as if it wasn't important. "Athena was kind, but she has done plenty of wrongs, like her family. The Doors of Death have opened. There are many worse souls escaping. Join me, and you could get your memories back. I could have your loved ones saved. You would live forever, with all of your friends and family in paradise. Gaea and her sons will rule and you will be left alone. You deserve it, after all those feats you've achieved."

"My memory?" Percy murmured.

"Yes. You could have Annabeth back."

Percy's perked up at that. "Well…"

I tensed. He better not switch sides. I would kill him! And this time I wouldn't get told off for doing so!

Percy looked at Bellerophon. "I'm sorry that you lost the thing you loved. But you aren't going to be the one to convert me. Out of all the people, do you really think the horse-crazy guy is going to convince me?"

I saw Bobby smile grimly. Maybe he was right. I guess he wasn't so bad after all.

Percy pulled out his weird bronze sword. "You're going back to where you belong. With Hades."

Bellerophon looked sadly at him. "You're good with horses. Maybe when you're dead and the gods have been overthrown, I could sneak you out of the Underworld. You were nice to me and a lot better than the gods. I'm sorry, but Pegasus comes first. Then, it's the destroying the gods."

Percy tried to slash him, but he just hopped out of the way. That old man must have some serious reflexes from his horse taming and training.

"KILL THEM!" Bellerophon screamed. Monsters that had been lying in wait streamed out from everywhere, from the alleys, hidden locations, disguised as human, anywhere. Mortals barely gave them a second look because of the Mist.

"Regroup! Get to Percy!" I hollered, slashing at some _dracaenae_ with my gold sword. I saw Reyna shooting arrows everywhere, Gwen stabbing with her spear at a hellhound, and Bobby and Percy both fighting with their blades. We made our way to Percy, slowly, but surely.

We were fighting as a unit, effectively fighting off the onslaught of monsters, but we were tiring and the monsters just kept coming. Small injuries started piling up as the battle dragged on. Suddenly, I heard Gwen scream. I turned around just to see a hellhound dash off with her in its teeth.

"Gwen!" Percy yelled and sprinted off to rescue her.

"Come on!" I said to the others. The raced off as fast as we could, fending off monsters and looking for Gwen, but we were impeded and slowed. There was no way we would get to her in time, but we still gave it our all. We found her on the outskirts of the town that I hadn't bothered to learn the name. She was bound and gagged with Bellerophon standing next to her.

"Let her go!" Screamed Percy. He tried to run over to her, but monsters held him back. He tried to destroy the ones that got in the way, but others just took their place while they reformed. They stopped attacking us, simply penning us together, gloating and making sure we paid attention to Horse Psycho.

The not-veteran smiled sinisterly. "I'll be taking her for safekeeping. She's important to the prophecy. My patron will be pleased."

"She's not just something that you can pass around and give!" I yelled at him.

Gwen was breathing hard and struggling against her bonds. Her eyes faintly glowed green. Like, literally. _She must be fighting off Oceanus' curse_. I realized.

"If you don't let her go now, you'll really regret it." I warned. He should be wary of both ours' and Gwen's wrath.

Instead, he just laughed. "Isn't that cute? I know who she is—she's the troubled one, to put it lightly." He tried stroke her face, but she just jerked away and glared at him. "I'll have her under control. She's a child of the creator of horses, so I guess I'll try to be nice to her. I can't say anything for the others, but _I'll_ try." He looked at us with triumph. He'd won, and he knew it. "I'll see you later… maybe."

He snapped his fingers and a snake woman lead a pale brown pegasus to him. Bellerophon mounted it and slung Gwen over the back.

"Good-bye, Perseus." He gloated, flicking the reins. The pegasus soared away, Gwen's bright green eyes staring desperately at us, but unable to say anything out loud. The monsters ran off to follow their leader, occasionally mocking us or trying to maim us, but we just deflected everything. They had won because of their number, not skill. Percy smote a few that dared to get close to him in his anger and frustration.

"Why did they have to take her?" He screamed at the sky. "She's already been through too much!" His shoulders slumped in defeat and his head hung sadly. His little sister was taken. Gwen's absence left a gaping hole. Even if she could potentially mass murder the Academy on accident, she was my friend. She'd gone on quests with me, helped me out, and had always been there.

I just stared after Gwen, unable to register what happened. "She's… gone."

Reyna quietly started dressing our wounds (Percy of course, didn't have any). She looked mournful. Maybe she wasn't as bad as Bobby said.

I walked over to Percy and put my hand on his shoulder. I'm not going to pretend that I'm good at comforting, but I mean what I say.

"We're going to get her back." I said firmly.

"But we don't know where he's gone. He could be anywhere. Bellerophon has legions of monster."

"And?" I raised an eyebrow. "You're statistics mean nothing to me, and they shouldn't to you either."

He looked at me straight in the eyes.

"Your philosophy is astounding."

I was expecting something a little deeper and heartfelt, but sarcasm was good enough for me. I shrugged.

"It could be worse."

"You are truly horrible at comforting people."

"Hey, I never claimed I wasn't."

Percy sighed. "We will get her back, right?"

"Of course." Not so sure about the validity of that statement, but he sounded like he needed any assurance he could get.

He narrowed his eyes and that defiant, irksome look in his eyes sparked again. Except maybe he wasn't so irksome after all.

"Let's go."

**Ooooh, cliffhanger (not really)! Chapter 14 complete! Did you like it? Wasn't really sure how to describe the action, but I'll do my best whenever there's less monsters. I don't to have to type every detail of every fight. Rick Riordan didn't describe everything, so I guess that's fine, but I'll try to put some more fight description. I'm going to put some more one-on-one stuff, okay? **

**I know, I know, Bellerophon doesn't seem like the likeliest villain in the world. He was a Greek hero and legend. Famous and all. Killing monsters to save townspeople and that stuff. But still, the gods took away his key to success, Pegasus. They crippled him and left him to suffer. You have to be at least a **_**little**_** bit bitter. Whenever someone suffers, that someone usually thinks that they were the victim, right? So that's my philosophy for him being there.**

**Gracias for the reviews! And scene! **


	15. Chapter 15

**To AKAAkira, Well, that's embarrassing. *Blushes and avoids eye contact. I fixed it though! Sorry, I'm horrible at spelling, so Microsoft Word's spell check is a savior to me. Chinchao, Chinchou, looks the same to me. Still, that was a fail. ^.^'**

**To Percyssister, You can still be blessed by another god or Titan, even if they're not your godly parent. If they can curse another god's child, I figured they could bless them too. Also, Zeus offered to give Percy immortality, which is technically a blessing.**

**To Anonyma, I'll try and make Reyna less overdone. I see what you mean, but I find it hard to write as subtly greedy. Or just greedy, period. Not much happens here so it's hard to show her person-ness, but I still dedicated this chapter to try and make her less fake.**

**Couldn't update, been busy . I've never been to the city in this chapter, so if anyone here is from Salmon Creek, I apologize for the inaccurate description of your town. I just saw it on Google Earth and I thought it had a cool name, so I put it in here. Well, anyway, enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. Stupid legal ramifications that force me to write this every time!**

**Chapter 15:**

**REYNA**

Gwen, singlehandedly managed to postpone the quest. I know it wasn't her fault, but… Why couldn't she have just been a better fighter or something? Well, it's already too late. We're going to have to save her. _Besides, it could've been me that was captured_, I reminded myself. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling of annoyance. I kicked a reforming _dracaenae_ to vent my frustrations, causing it to have to start reforming again.

I must've looked sad because Dakota was looking at me sympathetically. I started pulling out medical supplies and to use and handed an ambrosia square to Bobby. Dakota walked over to Percy and began a reassuring conversation about Gwen. I didn't see what was so important. We'd get her back, but no need for emotional breakdowns. It was going to be a pain to find her, but according to Bellerophon, she's big in the prophecy. I would try and get any and every advantage for the Academy.

_Leave her,_ A voice whispered inside my head. I froze. It sounded so convincing, managing to make it sound like a good idea at first, but if you weigh the pros and cons, we had to get her.

_Do you really have to go through all this trouble to find the girl who could accidentally kill you all with ease? _It insisted.

Gods, my subconscious is annoying, but it still planted seed of doubt about our rescue mission in my head. The voice had started when we began the quest. I didn't trust it much either, which is weird. How do you not trust yourself? I, for sure, don't know. It's just this voice sounded different. Not like me. It was cool and clinical, incapable of making mistakes, if you could gather that all from the tone alone. It wasn't very me-ish. It whispered ideas occasionally, pointing out things. It was handy, but not very sympathetic. I referred to it as "it," even though it's me. Right?

I cleared my throat and began to talk to get my mind off of my possible insanity.

"So, does anyone know where he went?"

"He flew off north-ish." Percy offered.

"It would help if I knew where we are." Dakota grumbled.

"We're in a town in southern Washington." I said. I had bought the tickets, and I knew where we were. The others weren't very attentive and didn't really care about the name of the town when we first came in. Now, it was a different case. "Salmon Creek. We spent most of the day passing through Oregon."

"Maybe he went somewhere horse-related." I suggested. "He would probably go out of his way to go there if there's a place like that. That guy is obsessed with horses."

"'_The bay contains the lost one's memories/But it also holds the five's enemies.'_" Percy said suddenly.

"Yeah, that's a part of the prophecy! It's telling us to look for a bay!" Bobby said excitedly.

"It would make sense; Horses were created by Neptune, god of the sea. The bay is by the sea." Dakota said.

"Great, now we just need to look for a bay that could be anywhere. Who knows, it could be on the East Coast or something." I grumbled pessimistically.

"Or we could the gods could just point us where to go. That would be nice after all those things we did for them." Dakota looked pointedly at the sky. Thunder rumbled angrily. "Or we could go on without any help or idea where to go. Yeah, that sounds much better."

"Let's go see if we can get a map or something." Bobby said. After asking a couple of people, we managed to get a faded, torn map of Washington.

"Hm… let's see, any towns that Horse Psycho would go to?" Dakota murmured, examining the map. "Uh, guys?" He said after a while.

"Yeah?" We all responded.

"Is there anyone here that isn't dyslexic?"

Awkward silence.

"Thought so." Dakota muttered. "Great, no clue where to go, no help, and none of us can freaking read the map!"

He kicked the same pile of reforming monster dust that I had kicked before. It was kind of a slow reformer.

"Wait, why not ask that?" Percy asked, pointing at the yellow pile.

"Good idea." I said. Why didn't I think of that before? It was a simple idea and yet Percy thought of it before me. He's not as irritating as I thought he was, but I still manage to get irrationally peeved at the slightest wrong thing he does.

We all stood in a circle around it and stared at it, watching it piece back together at an agonizing pace. When it finally became whole again, the snake lady looked at us in shock, and then quickly reacted by trying to choke me. I just shoved her off and growled

"If you give us the information we want, we will show mercy."

It hissed "Ssso, you think you can threaten me? Your promisssess are falssse, anywaysss. You demigod sssscum alwaysss lie. I have fought your kind all my life. Mercy? You have none." It laughed bitterly.

"Tell us where Bellerophon is." Percy commanded. He sounded so powerful, the _dracaenae_ hesitated a little before snarling

"You cannot force me. I am a loyal ssservant of Gaea; I will not fail her." It tried to shove pass us, but Dakota was an iron wall.

"You. Will. Tell. Us!" He barked.

The snake lady glowered at him. "Fine, ssstay here and try to get information out of me. By the time you do, it will be too late for your hopelesss quesst."

"What do you mean too late?" Bobby questioned.

"The king will risse, and your queen, Juno, will fade."

"Juno can't die; she's immortal. Who is this king?"

"Hisssstory repeatsss itsself, but this time, the giantsss will prevail." The monster said cryptically. "We prepare for our leader'sss arrival."

"Who is your leader? Is it the king?"

"Do not sspeak of him!" It snapped sharply. "You are too lowly to even _mention_ him!"

Dakota stepped forward and growled "I don't give a crap about your stupid leader," Wow. That's going to help us get the information. "_Where is Gwen?_"

The snake woman cackled and said "You cannot intimidate anyone, ssson of Marsss."

Not true. Dakota doesn't like telling anyone, but he used to have some serious anger issues. He can keep it under control, but it can slip out if someone gets him really mad. To show how he can get, he once attacked Lupa, tried to strangle me, punched Jason in the face, nearly gutted Gwen, and shoved Bobby into the ocean when they were at the docks. We're not really sure if it's the whole son of Mars thing or if he's just that way. Usually he just explodes with fury, and then clams down, but Hazel can soothe him back to normal, humorous self. However, she isn't here and a lot had happened today. The monster's challenge and all of what's going on did not equal a happy Dakota.

He stepped forward and grabbed her throat with an iron grip and lifted her up more than a foot. I don't think he can even _do_ that regularly, but when he gets mad, he can accomplish pretty much impossible feats.

"WHERE IS SHE? SPIT IT, OUT OR I _WILL_ RIP YOUR THROAT OUT AND MAKE SURE YOUR VERY _ESSENCE_ BURNS WITH AGONY FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY!" He screamed in her face. His eyes burned with traces of blood red fire, like his father's the one time I had met him. An angry crimson aura flickered around him. He tightened his hold on her neck. Dakota radiated fury and looked downright bloodthirsty.

I almost pitied the fool. The _dracaenae_ looked at Dakota with true fear and choked out "Lead—you—to—girl."

Dakota shook her roughly. "WHERE?"

Its face was turning a deep shade of purple. "Neah—Bay."

He threw her on the ground and stalked off with Bobby trailing after him, trying to get him to calm down. It gasped for breath and massaged its neck, flinching every time Dakota glared at it.

"Hisss anger will be hisss downfall." It muttered. I wondered if it was predicting the truth or just muttering what it hoped. I wouldn't be surprised if it was true, though.

Percy looked rather stunned. "That was… quite an outburst."

"Dakota is usually friendly." I glanced at Percy. "Except to maybe, no offense, you. Just don't mention his past or get on his nerves and you'll probably never see that again. Probably."

I heard Bobby soothingly talk to Dakota. Dakota responded sharply and angrily.

"Guys, come on, we should leave as soon as possible." I called to the others, still keeping an eye on the monster that would most definitely abandon us at the soonest chance possible.

I saw Dakota take a deep breath and walk back over toward me and Percy. The aura of anger and the fire-eyes had faded, so I guess he was more or less cooled down. The _dracaenae_ shied away when he approached.

"You better not even _try_ to run away." He snarled at it, the aura flickering around him for a second.

Or maybe not so cooled down. Well, I kind of like Dakota when he's angry. Despite the fact he once tried to strangle me, he just seemed… stronger when he got mad. I like powerful guys, and when Dakota's not in a rage, he's a joker, harmless and undesirable. He's a good friend then, but not quite Jason or Percy level.

_You deserve Percy. _The voice whispered inside my head. It made that sound like a statement, a fact. I was inclined to agree with it. _Jason's deserted and Percy shows up. Isn't that a sign?_

Yes… that's a good idea. Me and Percy.

I snapped myself back into reality.

"Okay, so let's see if we can decode this map to find where Neah Bay is." I announced. Percy unfolded the map and squinted at it, trying to overcome his dyslexia. He looks kind of cute when he does that.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Bobby raise an eyebrow. I stopped staring at Percy and muttered "Found it yet?"

"Um, I think so… right here-ish." He pointed at northwestern Washington, on the coast. I looked at it. "ANEH YAB." Close enough.

"More cramped, filthy buses. Yay." I grumbled.

"We're going to get Gwen, so don't complain!" Bobby growled.

The snake lady smiled. "Oh, your quessst will crumble if you foolsss dissagree with each other ssso much." it relished.

"Shut up! How would you know anything?" Dakota snapped.

It glared at him and said "The leader who all of you doubt and sssecretly hate," She gestured at Percy.

"The bomb that could go off at any time," She pointed at Dakota. "Well, actually two bombsss, but the other hasss been taken." It smiled showing off its pointed teeth.

"The one pushed off to the sside, forgotten. Mosst likely doomed, too." She turned the evil smile towards Bobby.

Then, she looked straight at me. "And then there'ss the one that wantsss to be leader, who sstrivesss for power that she will not get if she sstaysss on the godss's sside."

We all stood in complete silence. The monster was truthful. It was harsh, but she pretty much summarized our relationships with each other.

Percy spoke up fist. "You guys hate me? I mean, I know he does," He looked at Dakota. "but he's a angry maniac."

Dakota bristled at that. "There's a reason why we all hate you, you know." He yelled.

"And I'll just sit on the sidelines and comfort you when you're all done bickering." Bobby muttered quietly to himself.

"I'm not a child to be taken care of!" Dakota turned on Bobby.

"Well, you certainly act like one! Every time, I have to help you along and make sure you're okay, fix your problems, and I do, but it's not like you're ever thankful!" Bobby yelled. Dakota started protesting, but he ignored him, continuing. "And then there's her" He pointed at me. "You heard the _dracaenae_, you'll never get the power you want—oh wait, _need."_ He sarcastically said. "Unless you go help the king or whatever. So why don't you go? It's not like you'll regret it or miss us because you've already made your mind that we're not good enough for you!"

I scowled at him and shot back "So you think you've already figured me out and that I've turned into some shallow backstabber? People aren't all that simple, you know, but why would you care? You turned on your best friend without a second thought. All someone had to do was suggest you're being left out and you get all hurt and accusatory! How can you call someone a child when you act like that?"

Bobby seemed to swell with anger. "Well, if you didn't hear the monster, I'm probably going to _die_! Then you can truly forget me, and go live happily with Percy, just like you want, completely abandoning your friends and Jason. He must've been the only one who didn't see what a horrible person you are! He cared about you, but it's not like you gave a crap about that. I can't blame him for leaving if he got stuck with _you_." He spat.

"Guys!" Percy yelled over our argument. "Are we going to get Gwen or not?"

That silenced us, but we still glared, untrusting, at each other.

"How come you're the leader? No one likes you and you don't know anything about any of us!" Dakota shouted.

I backed Percy up. "The Oracle chose him! You're just jealous, Dakota."

"Oh, don't be a hypocrite, Reyna." Bobby scowled. "_You're_ jealous of Percy, and you don't even _like _Pria! You don't like a mortal being more important than you."

"That's not true!" Well, maybe a little, but there is no way in Pluto that I'm going to admit that to Bobby, or anyone.

"I can fight my own battles." Percy growled at me. Not verbal ones. "And we are going _now._ The longer we wait, the worse things could happen to Gwen. She's the only one in this group that doesn't hate each other. She deserves better than this." He gestured at the lot of us.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dakota questioned angrily.

"It means we're going to get Gwen." Bobby said. "That's just about the only thing we all agree on."

_But I don't_, I realized. I didn't really like Gwen. She was a bomb, waiting to go off, just like the _dracaenae_ said.

"We have to get her." Percy announced.

The others agreed, but the trust within our group had been shattered, seemingly irreparably. The she-monster managed to split us apart, but not physically.

All the questers turned around to tell the monster to lead the way. Except the snake lady wasn't there.

"Great, the monster's gone!" Percy exclaimed. "While we were arguing, it must've run away. It's gone to warn Bellerophon, I bet."

"Good leadership, Fish." Dakota grumbled. Percy ignored that.

"Okay, that kind of sets back our plans. Let's go get some tickets. Do we have enough money?" Percy asked me.

"Just about enough." I said. "But first, we need to talk _without_ arguing." I looked pointedly at them. They muttered their consent.

"Who is Gaea that Bellerophon talked about? Who's the king guy?"

"Gaea… is… I think her Roman form is Terra." Percy said.

"T-Terra?" I stuttered. "How could that be? She's asleep! That's not possible!"

"I think she's the patron. Terra is technically the mother of everything, though, so her son could be anything or anyone." Bobby pointed out.

"So we have to be wary of every dude?" Dakota asked.

"The Titans… they can't be back, can they?" I felt horrible dread. The Second Titan War was a terrible time. So many people died…

However, Percy shook his head. "The _dracaenae_ said something about giants. If it's in Alaska, maybe it's Hyperborean ice giants or something icy and cold."

"The big blue dudes?" Dakota said blankly. "How do you know about them?"

"I… I just do." Percy gestured helplessly.

"I don't think they would do that, but we have to put every possibility into account." Bobby said.

"We'll figure it out as we go." Dakota shrugged. "Let's go to the bay right now, though."

"Right. No plan, just four teenagers against an army of monsters. Excellent." I muttered.

And so we went back to where we started, the bus stop. Ironically, the bus going towards Depoe Bay was the same bus that we rode into here.

"After this, I hope I never have to see this godsforsaken bus again." Dakota grumbled as we boarded it.

We watched Salmon creek roll by, lit by the midday sun.

**I don't really know how long it would take to pass through Washington by bus, so I just kind of guessed. I'll try and update soon! Please tell your Percy Jackson fan friends about this if you like it! Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm going to a different summer camp for a week, and this one is only half the day, so I should be able to update sooner. Last time, I didn't update for eight days. That is ridiculously long for me, so I'm sorry. I've never been to any of the locations in this story. I'm just making up stuff, but not the cities. The cities are real, their content is not. Just saying.**

**To michie 925, I put the Percy/Reyna thing in there not because I think that's going to happen, but more like when Reyna and Annabeth meet. I'm going to savor writing that. The Piper/Reyna/Annabeth argument is going to be awesome! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. Or any literature, really.**

**Chapter 16:**

**BOBBY**

I glared out the window of the bus, watching the peaceful roads roll by, not matching my mood at all. After the Bellerophon incident, we sat next to each other, but squished ourselves as far as possible to one side of our seats to get away from each other. Because of the _dracaenae_ pointing out how we truly felt, our relations had become turbulent, to say the least. I guess we were hiding what we thought of each other, but at least it worked. This? This is crap.

"Stupid _dracaenae._" I muttered under my breath. I can't believe how easily the monster spilt us apart. You wouldn't be able to do that unless there was at least a grain of truth, right?

I mean, maybe it's just me feeling victimized, but I do feel shoved off to the side sometimes. I helped everyone with their problems, nudged them back onto the path when they needed it and everything. Hazel and I both did that. Being a daughter of Ceres, it had to be worse. Underestimated, unappreciated. That sums up the Ceres kids pretty well. Hazel is a good warrior, though maybe not physically. Her nature skills surpass any of the other kids at the Legion Academy. Me, however… I'm not the best judge because I'm probably going to be bias, but I felt like I was only there to complete the mission at that certain point in time and then I could go back to doing the unwanted tasks like being the head of the overloaded cabin and having to organize it, being the best friend and rock to the super-angry guy, and always having the worn out, hand-me-down everything.

I couldn't help but feel like the others were wrapped up in themselves, Reyna especially. They don't have to put up with what _I _do, but it's all a matter of perspective. I most likely seem self-centered to the others, but… it's so frustrating you can't even depend on your friends to back you up.

There's Percy, the one who Dakota hates with a burning passion (I've always wanted to say that). Dakota kind of subconsciously expects me to be with him on this one, but I really think he's not all that bad. He's just a Percy, which I guess Dakota doesn't like. I can get how he doesn't like him, but you have to get past the annoying behaviors, like his unorganized-ness, his carefree attitude when he should be dead serious, and all that. I really want to know about his past, but at the same time, I don't. What has to be so terrible you completely forget about it? Is he a different person and he just acts differently because he has no memories, or is he the same as always? And what is with his insistence on using Greek names? Bellerophon put a lot more importance in that than he should… there are lots of questions that can't be answered yet.

Then there's my best friend. Dakota, Sir Missesalot, Dimwit himself, the Grand Idiot! And I mean that in the nicest way possible. There is no Dakota without stupidity. We fought together, saved each other's lives, and we grew up together. We're practically brothers. And yet we turned against each other so quickly. I always help him get back on his feet, but he refuses to admit that he needs it or ever receives it. Gods, he can be so annoyingly proud. He can't admit that he is unable to handle _anything_. Also, why does he have to clash with everyone on the quest? When we really can't afford to argue, he adds fuel to the fire. Well, when this is all over, I hope it clears up.

While all of us are flawed, Reyna might be the worst. I didn't like questioning my friend and leader (not quest leader, as much as she wants to be), but she seemed to embrace the bad qualities. Like the monster lady said, she wanted power. She was fiercely loyal to the Academy, but I'd seen that faith waver during the Second Titan War. When Krios had offered Jason to join the Titan's side, Jason had laughed it off, but Reyna… things weren't going so great, and for a second, she looked like she might take that offer. There were other signs that I had largely ignored because I highly doubted that she would abandon us. But anything could happen. Jason supposedly deserted. But I just don't think that would happen. Jason is way too committed to the Academy to do that. He had friends that he would never leave. I can't believe Reyna would actually think he would do that.

Moving on, Gwen is the most innocent and yet the Fates seem to make a sport out of torturing her. She was helpful and nice to everyone. She went on two quests, both with Jason. In a way, she was the key to success on both of them. In the quest to slay the Trojan sea monster, she used her aquatic powers to find its lair, and in the quest to capture Pegasus, she helped negotiate with the magical beast. Ironically, Pegasus is the reason why she's gone now. Too bad Bellerophon hadn't died fighting the Chimera. Why did Pegasus have to be so heroic?

And finally, me, the "doomed one." Or, actually, the "most likely doomed one." I'm hoping I won't die, but being a demigod on a dangerous and possibly deadly quest with no divine help and ominous signs that there is a looming evil being against us, so I don't have high hopes. No, I am not exaggerating it, but I do have a vivid vocabulary that I'm proud of.

I shifted uncomfortably in my stiff seat, waking up from my reverie.

"Where are we going again?" I muttered to Reyna. She was the only one who bothered to learn the names of the cities we visit, and that's only because she's the one who buys the tickets.

She rolled her eyes and replied "Bobby, you really need to pay attention. You zone out too much. We're going to Seattle and then going by boat to Neah Bay."

I nodded. "Can I see the map?" She handed me the folded up piece of faded paper.

I glared at the map, trying to force the letters to stop whirling by sheer will.

"You look constipated." Percy mumbled.

I just glared at him, too. Unlike Dakota, I really didn't have an argument with Percy, so the glare wasn't serious.

I turned back to the map, my finger placed on Washington so I wouldn't lose it in the mess of words.

"Neah Bay, Neah Bay, Neah Bay." I said under my breath. "Ah-ha! There it is." Its location was on the tip of a small bay that bordered British Columbia. "Wait, there's something wrong." I frowned.

"What?" Reyna sounded annoyed.

"Hey, it's not my fault where the town is placed." I defended myself crossly. "It's in Washington, not Alaska, the midnight sun land or whatever it's called."

"Let me see that." Reyna snatched the map out of my hands.

"It's a map of Washington, not Alaska." I pointed out. "There's British Columbia in the north. We're going to have to cross all that if we want to go to Alaska."

"Maybe the prophecy was warning us about Gwen's kidnapping." Dakota suggested.

"Maybe." I said. If that was true, couldn't the Oracle have given a clue a little less vague? Man, I hate prophecies. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted. I've had enough for today. Good middle of the day." I announced and promptly leaned back and fell asleep.

…

I was dreaming. Of course, it had to be one of those suck-y demigod omen doom-and-destruction dreams. I was standing on Mount Othrys, watching the battle between the Academy and the Titan and his army that occurred last summer.

Atlas bellowed in the distance and Krios' clothes winking with constellation that swirled around on his clothes stood out in the dying light. The Titan himself battled doomed half-bloods that were no match for him. I stared helplessly as the battle waged around me, unable to move, only to watch my comrades die. Joey, my half-brother died, screaming in pain as green Roman-fire was launched into his face, slowly eating his body away, leaving a foul stench behind. I wanted to yell a warning, but my voice didn't work. Down went Ben, son of Bacchus, a giant goring him through the neck with a spear. Blood pooled around his limp form. So many others, Abby, daughter of Mars, Lee, son of Juventas, Molly daughter of Prosperina and countless others… all horrible, pointless deaths. I had never really gotten over this, simply burying the pain, but my subconscious wanted to visit my worst fears and hurts. I wished it would all go away, but I couldn't stop watching the gory scenes. I felt like my spirit was being ripped apart, another piece brutally being torn off as another comrade died, their faces frozen in the agony and terror of their final moments. The ground was littered with corpses. I watched in horror as an _empousa _shriek in triumph as it callously killed Daniel, son of Minerva and feasted on his blood. I fell to my knees, begging for the dream to stop, but the battle waged on around me, ignoring my pleas.

Suddenly, I felt a warm breeze on my face. It wasn't humid and carried the scent of blood and monsters, but soothing and smelled like rich spices. Gold light washed over everything, the sounds of battle fading away. When the light abated, I was in a huge, marble room with thrones big enough for giants, like the one in Percy's test. Olympus. I stood up to properly admire it. That was my first time ever coming here, and I wasn't even really there, just in a dream state. I stared at the white and gold room in wonder, not noticing the other person in the room.

"Bobby. Long time no see." A voice echoed in the room.

I froze. That voice was so tantalizingly familiar, and yet I'm sure I had never heard it before. I slowly turned around and kneeled, not looking up or making eye contact with the man before me.

"Lord Mercury. Father." I respectfully said.

"Rise, my son."

I stood and got the first look of my father I had ever seen in person. He looked like a regular mortal in a business suit, except the winged shoes kind of gave him away. He had short black hair, mottled with gray. His blue eyes looked down at me. He was a leader, a strong figure to be followed. Un-fatherly.

I wasn't sure how I felt. Proud, I guess, because I got to meet him. Some kids never even got to meet their godly parent. Unsure. How does he feel about his son that he never showed that he cared about before? And angry, very angry. How dare he just start out with "long time no see?" How about you don't sugarcoat things and say you don't care about me to my face, instead of avoiding it like you have all these years? But I couldn't question my leaders. That leads to rebellion, and how is Rome supposed to thrive if its people don't devote everything to it? My personal feelings mattered little to the greater good.

"You don't seem happy to see me." He stated. You got that right, mister who I don't feel comfortable calling "Dad" because that's too casual and loving. A stiff "Father" fit this situation much better.

"You brought me here for a reason, so tell me what you need and I will try and complete the necessary task to my full ability." I said robotically and unemotionally.

"Did you see the battle in your dreams?" He ignored what I had just said.

I stiffened and some of the anger and hurt I felt slipped into my voice. "You sent me that? You made me live through that again?"

My father shook his head. "No, I would not do that unless I was forced to. But I must warn you."

"Warn me?"

"If you thought the Second Titan war was a horrible, cruel time, then what could possibly follow up is an abomination."

"What's going to happen?" I asked, more than a little panicked.

"I cannot directly say."

I swallowed an angry, extremely disrespectful comment that would probably have me smote. "Any hints?" I had trouble keeping down a request for twenty questions.

Mercury looked troubled. "None that I'm supposed to tell you, but sometimes we must bend the rules for survival. Terra _is_ awakening. We must try and lull her back to sleep, but after the Titan's failure, the repercussions for defeating them will be harsh. Beings that have not walked upon the earth for many millennia are returning. Souls are escaping from the Underworld. Know that some sacrifices are needed for the Western Civilization to continue." Ominous. Doesn't sound good for doomed boy. "And…" His blue eyes stared into mine. _We have the same exact shade of blue_, I realized. "My actions are not always my will. I have already given up so much." He looked so sorrowful and wistful, for a moment, I felt connected. We both knew pain, though admittedly, he was probably more familiar with it. It wasn't the best way to bond, but it was something. "I cannot always show my true feelings. I care about all my children, each and every one of them. I love you. You are my son, and I am proud to carry that title."

"I…" I hesitated a little before continuing. "I love you too, dad."

I wondered how many demigods could have used this conversation last summer, instead of joining the Titan's forces. There were so many people that felt neglected, unwanted. Heck, I felt that way too, but I always kept faith. They cared for us in their own way, but ancient law prohibited them from directly helping their children. It wasn't their fault, but it sure was easy to think that.

The dream abruptly shook and faltered before regaining its steadiness, but now things seems a fuzzy around the edges.

"Jupiter is finding out about this dream. I wasn't supposed to come to you because Olympus is closed off, but I wanted to see you before you finish your quest and to help you." He smiled at me, filling me with warmth and hope. "Good luck, Bobby."

The dream dissolved away, my dad's blue eyes the least thing that I saw before I woke up.

…

I sat up quickly, looking around, half-expecting my dad. All that greeted me was a dirty bus. Not quite as glamorous as Olympus, to say the least.

"What's wrong with you?" Reyna grumbled, her crankiness ruining my light mood. "You start crying in your sleep and then you shoot up. What did you dream about?" The others looked expectantly at me.

"Crying?" I wondered out loud, feeling my cheeks. They were wet. I blushed, but continued on, hoping that if I started talking they would forget about that. "I saw… The battle on Mount Othrys."

Dakota's eyes softened and nodded in sympathy.

"And I saw my fa—dad."

"You—you saw Mercury?" Reyna said in disbelief.

"Yeah, he came to me in the dream."

Envy shone in her eyes, darkening her features. "What did he say?"

I explained our conversation, leaving out the "I love you" parts and stuff. They were too personal and they would probably make fun of me if I told them.

"Hm… doesn't sound good. Why would he disobey Zeus' direct orders just to give you some vague hints?" Percy wondered.

"Jupiter." Dakota said flatly, glaring at him. "And maybe it's because this quest is important. We're stopping and abomination, right? Even Jupiter's orders could become secondary. But what would be so terrible that he defied Jupiter's commands?"

"Why does every quest seem to be underlined with something worse?" Percy sighed, sinking into his chair. "All I want to do is get Gwen back and finish this stupid quest."

"Well, you're in luck because the bus has finally reached Seattle." Reyna said, looking out the window. The city glittered with lights as the bus slowed to a stop. The sun was setting outside.

"Come on, we have to get going." Percy stood and stretched, cramped from the long bus ride.

Reyna checked her bag. "I'm not sure if we have enough money to travel to Alaska, much less from Alaska back to San Francisco." She told us doubtfully.

"We'll have to find a way." Percy shrugged as if it was nothing. Again, annoying carefree-ness. Shouldn't he be slightly worried?

We exited the bus, Dakota giving it one last hateful kick before walking through the streets.

"Is there any cheap place to sleep?" Percy yawned. "I'm tired."

"There's an Econolodge. Guessing from the name, it's going to be gods-awful." Reyna said.

And it was. The water looked suspiciously brown, and none of us had the heart to take a shower, brush our teeth, or really touch or use the water. There was a cockroach problem and the beds were stained. We still all fell asleep like rocks as soon as our heads hit the pillow, exhausted by today's events. Thankfully, it was a dreamless night.

…

Unfortunately for Gwen, the boat to Neah Bay was late in the afternoon. Very late.

Since we were all complete strangers, we had to ask for directions to get to the docks. I didn't feel comfortable talking to random people. Before, I would've assumed they were just mortals, but now, everyone was a possible threat, another soul escaped from the Underworld.

"Neah Bay's kind of closed off, so we're going to have to go by boat. They have a hotel we could stay in—" Reyna informed us as we headed towards the wharf.

"Clean showers!" Dakota cheerfully said.

"If we ever get to the hotel." Reyna finished. "I think it's going to be more like grab Gwen and run. There is no way we're going to be able to snatch her and then spend a leisurely night in a hotel."

"No showers…" Dakota's head bowed sadly.

"There's a problem getting back, though. There are no more ships leaving Neah Bay until the next day." Reyna frowned. "It's going to be tough… Are… are you sure we should go get her?"

We all stared at her in shock. Dakota spoke up first.

"Of course we're getting Gwen! She deserves it, after all those things that were forced onto her."

Reyna shifted awkwardly and mumbled "I'm just saying, from a tactical point of view, it's a lot of trouble to go through."

There wasn't much conversation after that. We all stood there, shivering in the cold, night air. Finally, the boat taking us to Neah Bay arrived. It was a relatively small boat, and guessing from the smell, it was used for fishing. The middle-aged man who owned it warmly greeted us, and then we gave money for the ride and he became rude and abrasive.

"Snobby Boat-Dude. Show some manners." Dakota grumbled, even though he could use some himself. The boat ride was long and silent, all of us thinking of the horrors that could possibly greet us.

I stared into the water, thinking hard. That's when I saw a face in the water. I took a step back in surprise. When I peered back in, the face had disappeared. What was that? A naiad or a nymph? I wasn't sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't friendly. Among the other strange things I saw on this long, freezing boat ride that I had to pee really bad on, I saw a shimmering, white iridescent tail pop out of the water, splashing water everywhere.

"Get off my boat." The guy said when we reached our destination, practically kicking us off. He eyed us suspiciously, counted the money we gave him as if he thought we'd rip him off and then drove off.

"We're glad to leave, you know!" Dakota yelled after him.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Let's go ask the locals if they've seen anything questionable or monster-like."

We ended up walking to the Big Salmon Resort and talked to the nice lady in the front desk.

"Have you seen anyone pass through here? With a girl with black hair and green eyes? Anyone named Ron?" Percy asked timidly. Apparently, he wasn't so comfortable talking to random people that could turn out to be bad guys.

She was really pretty. She had a smile brighter than Reyna's, which is saying a lot, considering she's the daughter of Mr. Sunshine himself. Front desk lady was African-American with perfect skin, glossy, long midnight black curly hair and brown eyes. She was so friendly and easy to like. The only thing that bothered me was that light reflected off her eyes red-ish, or was that just me? She smelled really nice, too. Like roses… and something else. Like the pegasi stables, but in a good way. Not the stables after a week of no cleaning, but like the pegasi themselves, I guess. Whatever it was, it was strong smelling and rather intoxicating.

"Yes, there was a man who passed by the name of Ron." She purred. "He was rather lost so I directed him to his summer home that he built recently. Why do you ask?"

"We, uh… we're his kids." Percy made up. Gods, he is a horrible liar.

"You certainly don't look alike."

Reyna saved him. "Adopted, ma'am."

"Adopted? Four kids, that's quite a lot."

"Yes, our dad is really kind. We got lost, because, as you said, the summer home is new and we don't really know how to find it." I put in. Percy looked gratefully at me and Reyna.

"Here, let me print out a map for you." She said, smiling at us and walked into the back room and walked out with the map. "Here, it's at the very end of Educket Road."

"Thanks ma'am." I said smiling back at her. We were finally going to get Gwen. We were closer than we'd ever been. "Bye!"

"Good-bye," She returned in her beautiful voice that I could listen to all day. Front desk lady was so nice and pretty, I felt a twinge of sadness at leaving. The chances that I'd see her again was slim to none.

"I like her." Dakota announced as soon as we stepped outside.

"Gods, you men are suckers for a pretty face." Reyna snorted. "It's guys like you that made me seriously considered joining the Maidens of Diana once."

"No!" Percy said suddenly. "Don't do that."

"Why?" Reyna asked curiously and seemed quite flattered. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Yes. No. I don't know." Percy sighed, frustrated. "I just don't like the idea of you going to them. They sound familiar. Are you sure they aren't… Huntresses? No, Hunters. Aren't they Hunters?"

"I'm pretty certain it's the Maidens of Diana. And why would they be Hunters and not Huntresses? They _are_ girls, you know." Reyna pointed out.

"Enough about Reyna, how about we talk about pretty front desk girl?" Dakota suggested.

"Yeah." I agreed. Gods, my voice sounded dreamy to even me.

"I don't know." Percy said doubtfully. "Did you see her eyes? They were red. Don't you think that's weird?"

"You're being paranoid." Dakota grumbled.

"It's just the light reflecting off her eyes." I assured, thinking about her gorgeous brown eyes…

"Dude, snap out of it." Percy said, poking me to see if I would react.

"Hm? Oh." I blushed, realizing that it was blindingly obvious what (actually, who) I was thinking about. "Right. Let's get go get Gwen."

We walked down the long road in the quiet twilight for a long time. There were a few houses along the side now and then, but it was empty for the most part.

"How are we supposed to break into the house? If that was a lot of monsters at Salmon Creek, there's going to be a whole heck of a lot more there. I'm surprised they haven't stopped us yet." Percy said aloud.

"Maybe they're all asleep." Dakota said hopefully.

"Dakota?" Reyna said.

"Yeah?"

"There are so many different things that I could mock you about right now. So much that I'm not even going to bother. They speak for themselves."

"Blame the ADHD."

Reyna laughed. "Sure it's that. Whatever you like to think, little, clueless Dakota." She said the last part in the same voice that girls use when talking to puppies or babies.

"Shouldn't we be walking through the forests on the side?" Percy said nervously. "Don't you feel like this is too convenient? We can't just walk in."

"The forests have less maneuvering space than the streets and it's a lot easier to hide nasties in there than out in the open." I reasoned.

We stopped at the end of the road, looking up at a huge mansion, painted in fading blues and greens. Vines grew on its sides. There was a huge garden that lead to the porch out front that probably looked nice at one point, but it was trampled and overgrown in some spots. There were claw marks on the trees as evidence of the monsters that occupied this area. A wrought iron gate blocked the entrance to the garden.

"And for your information, Percy," Dakota said, steeping towards the gate that should've been locked, and pushed it open. It creaked mournfully, as if already giving its condolences. "You _can _just walk in."

**Yay! *Says in AVPS Umbridge voice, Chapter 16 cooomplete! That was for you, wouldsoluvtazifiwereaguy. Wow, that was a long chapter. Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it, especially all the frequent readers. Virtual cupcakes/cookies/pancakes/bacon/candy/fruit/cake for you all! See how thankful I am? I sent you all that, not like those other lame people who only offer one delicious virtual food. **

**By the way, Juventas is the Roman form of Hebe, goddess of youth. Properina is he Roman form of Persephone, goddess of spring. **

**Review, please! Not including this chapter, I have five reviews per chapter. If you tell your friends about this fanfiction, I will be eternally grateful! The more reviews, the faster I post new chapters!**


	17. Chapter 17

**La lala la laaa… Oh, hi! Didn't see you there because you can't see another person through a written story! Well, anyways, I've been researching a lot about Greek demons, monsters and spirits, so if you're writing a fanfiction, theoi. com is a really good website to find new monsters to terrorize your stories. I tried to find drought/desert/heat demons, but I couldn't find any (well, at least not any Greek ones). Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. I wrote this chapter without them, but if you know about drought/desert/heat demons that are Greek or Roman, please tell me! I'll try and slip them in if I can. The chapter begins when Gwen is being flown off. And please, if you are going to review, put what you think was going to happen to Gwen at the beginning of the chapter. I want to see how close you can get to the truth.**

**To wouldsolovetazifiwereaguy, No too partial to hugs. I see someone understands. Sappy, cheesy love is annoying. At least, that's my opinion.**

**Disclaimer: What do you think I'm going to write here? "I don't own PJO or HoO" or something like that? Well, you're wrong. Because I didn't put that in here. Yeah.**

**Chapter 17:**

**GWENDOLYN**

I stared helplessly back at my friends, watching their figures recede with distance. The monsters that we had worked so hard to demolish had reformed, streaming past the others, mocking them, knowing they couldn't do anything.

I wish I could break through my bonds, but they were tightly knotted and if I tried to move, there was always a possibility that I could tumble off of the pegasus and fall to an undoubtedly bloody death. Instead, I tried to work on the thick ropes that chained my hands together (I wasn't successful) and talked to the pegasus.

_Could you turn around and fly me back to my friends? I kind of need to be with them. As in, not be here. Could you do that for me? Please? _I wheedled.

The pegasus took its time replying. Its wings whooshed in a steady beat.

_Alas, milady, I cannot. My master would not tolerate it. As much as I would like to help you, I must fulfill my duty._

I sighed, but it came out kind of mangled because there was a rather uncomfortable gag in my mouth. Unfortunately for me, I was dealing with one of those stiff, formal pegasi. They're very into _milady _and _lord_ or_ sire_ and those snobbish titles. I wish they'd call me by my name for once.

_Please? My dad would be really pleased if you helped free me and bucked off Bellerophon. _I played the my-dad-is-Neptune card that usually works.

The pale brown horse hesitated, slowing down. Bellerophon turned around and glared at me as if he knew what I was doing. I looked back, trying to appear innocent, but I think it turned out more like impish.

_I am a pegasus of my word. I will not—cannot—betray him, milady. Not even if your father is Neptune. _It sped up back to its regular speed, which is mile-eating to say the least. Bellerophon grinned triumphantly at me before turning his focus back to the reins. I fumed angrily, which caused my head to explode sharply in pain. Oceanus' curse still lingered, trying to take control whenever I was mentally at my weakest, like when I'm angry, sad, in pain, or tired. Right now, I am all four.

When the pain somewhat ebbed away enough for me to make a coherent thought. _Stupid horse._ I grumbled in my head.

_I heard that. _It responded, equally annoyed.

I stayed silent, partially out of embarrassment, but mostly because fighting off the ocean takes a toll. That tugging feeling in your gut that occurs whenever you use water powers intensified to feel like something around nausea. I closed my eyes and tried to keep both the "blessing" and the bile down.

For what felt like a long time, my prisoner, the uptight pegasus and I soared through the skies. It's pretty uncomfortable to be strewn across a pegasus on your stomach. My ribs were starting to ache and I was spitting out a bird feather when the smell of the sea hit me. The presence of the ocean rejuvenated me, but it also renewed the strength of the blessing straining against my will.

An involuntary groan escaped me as the pressure on my mind and stomach increased. I tried to control the pace of my breathing, but the panic was overwhelming and I started hyperventilating, which doesn't exactly help the strong, defiant façade.

Bellerophon glanced at me over his shoulder. "Don't worry, we're about to reach our destination. It's not as bad as you think." Then he laughed as if he just made a joke. Oh so reassuring.

_Do you see who you're leaving me with? _I said to the pegasus in a ragged voice.

The horse sounded apologetic. _I'm sorry, milady. But I'm sure you can handle it, _it added at the end doubtfully.

I snorted derisively, causing Bellerophon to turn around, eyebrows raised. "Could you be a little more obvious?" He complained.

I tried to make a stinging retort, but the gag muffled it. I glared at him to convey the message.

"It's going to be interesting when we take the gag off you." He muttered. Darn right it is.

He expertly flicked the reins and the pegasus started descending. We spiraled around faint smudges below that eventually became more clearly defined. It was a long, quiet street swathed in forest on each side. Judging from the humidity, we were somewhere near the sea. There was one tall, elegant building at the very end of the street that Bellerophon headed for. As I got closer, I got a better look at it. The garden was torn up and overgrown with signs of monster occupation all over it. The pegasus landed on the roof and Bellerophon dismounted. A group of _dracaenae_ awaited us, rushing forward to attend to their master and untied my legs so I could walk. The pegasus was lead away. It looked at me remorsefully as I was hassled down the stairs.

_Good luck. _It whispered to me as if it was afraid someone would hear.

_Yeah, well, no thanks to you. _I snapped back as I stumbled and fell on my face because my arms were tied to my sides. My anger caused the curse to rush forward and for a second, my vision blurred over with visions of watery death, and the sound of churning, crashing waves filled my ears. A sharp, angry wind blew for a second before I regained full control of my body and consciousness.

"Ow." I mumbled through my gag. What an understatement.

"Take off her gag. And blindfold her." Bellerophon ordered. "We don't want her to find her way back, now do we?" he said cheerfully, as if he was just the harmless old grandpa that he looked like.

A _dracaenae _walked up behind me and practically wrenched the gag off of my face. I winced, trying to get the feeling of her slimy, cool skin out of my mind. I started talking to distract myself from the ickiness.

"How do you know that I won't purposely use Oceanus' blessing to destroy you all?" I challenged.

Bellerophon simply smiled as if that idea was just plain silly. "We know that it physically pains you when that happens. Agonizingly, actually. It mentally wears you out. We know that every time it seizes you, it puts your sanity on the line. So I can safely assume you will not try. Plus, we have a way to keep it under control."

I opened my mouth to object, but closed it when I realized he was exactly right. Like, spot on. "How do you know that? Do you have spies?"

"We don't need spies. Your little camp's defense is nothing. But about the first question, if you remember clearly, Oceanus blessed you during the Titan war, away from your little safe haven."

"The others will come get me."

"We're counting on that." Uh-oh. That doesn't sound good. "But enough talk. Blindfold her." Bellerophon snapped his fingers.

My head jerked back as someone—something—put a piece of cloth over my eyes and roughly pulled me back to tie the way too tight knot.

"I hope you all die horribly." I muttered.

I could almost see Bellerophon's disturbed, insane smile as he responded cordially. "I already have."

I was dragged down halls, abruptly shoved through doorways, and eventually became quite lost. At first I'd tried to make a mental map, but that's hard when there's another being in your head trying to overpower you, overthrow your control over your own body, and drown your identity. We backtracked and suddenly turned several times as if to make sure that I completely lost me orientation.

After a long, winding walk that took many detours, one of Bellerophon's servants threw me into an extremely hot, dry room. It stank of charred wood, and I could feel the sun beat down on my skin.

Then, I felt someone try and put heavy, metal manacles on my ankles. Of course, I put up a fight. I did manage to kick something in the face, but they eventually pinned me down and lock the cold chains around me.

"Gods! Stop struggling, stupid girl!" Bellerophon growled, throwing in some colorful curses in between. I think he's the one who I kick in the face.

They cuffed me wrists too (after more kicking, punching, biting, scratching, ect.). The manacles were heavy as weights, but there was a length of chain that let me move around a little bit, like to lie down, moves my arms and legs around a little bit, but not enough to walk much, or sit. Finally, they took the blindfold off of me.

The first thing that hit me was that how time felt sluggish. Some sort of magic or ancient power permeated the air, slowing time down. The second thing was that the room was completely made of pitch black asphalt. Not exactly the most godly material in the world, but it made everything _hot_. The tarmac reflected the heat from the sweltering sun. How is the sun shining in a building? I looked up at the ceiling. It was several stories up and was made out of thick glass. Glass? Not the most sturdy. And then I realized it served as a giant magnifying glass. Toasty.

"Do you like it?" Bellerophon said, spreading his hands as if it were grand. "We made it just for you. With… some help, we took out as much moisture out of the air as possible, the surfaces, everything. Nothing for you to attack us with when you're channeling the sea. Regardless, the sea could still ruin your mind."

A disembodied, female voice rang out "Bellerophon? Is the mortal here?" It was one of those imperial, snobbish voices. Guessing from the way she said "mortal" in disdain, she was a goddess or something. A tall, slim figure appeared in the doorway. The door shut on its own accord. What a showoff. She was dressed in rosy, orange-y pink robes and was wreathed in a fiery aura that was different from Dakota's fury aura. It radiated heat instead of anger and was… fuller. She smiled warmly, but it wasn't like Vesta's, who had a kind, almost motherly smile the made you feel warm and cozy. It was unfeeling, indifferent and more like a sneer than anything. The lady let off a sense of power that obviously showed she was an immortal of some sort. Her eyes danced with flickering flames and light.

"So the girl is here. Good, good." She walked closer, making me lean back. I didn't like the warmth that rolled off of her. It made my lips crack and my eyes feel like they were drying up in seconds. I blinked rapidly to try to make up the lost moisture and got to see a closer look at her. She had red-brown hair and the flaming eyes. Her skin was tanned and unblemished. The immortal was pretty in a harsh, stark way.

"Why are you here, Anchiale?" Bellerophon said coldly. I think he sounded a little scared. Then again, so was I, but I tried to hide it better. Being from the Legion Academy, we all developed an ability to keep an absolutely expressionless face even in the face of danger. The woman laughed and stepped even closer, making Bellerophon's eyes dart around nervously as if trying to find an escape route.

"Why, Bellerophon," She said softly, smiling at his discomfort. "I came to gloat." She swept towards me. "Ah, the girl. Blessed by Oceanus, correct?"

I stared at her and didn't respond. I didn't like her. Usually, I don't mind warmth. I actually enjoy it, but this was harsh, sweltering, unforgiving heat.

"Not very social, are you, girl? I do not forget my manners, unlike some despicable demigods." Yes. Because that was so polite. "I am Anchiale, Titaness. The physical embodiment of the warmth of fire. The wife of Hecaterus, sister of Prometheus himself, and the mother of the Dactlys." She spread her arms wide and the hot aura intensified, bathing her in a withering inferno of flames.

This was my first reaction: "Who?"

She scowled and the blaze around her grew with her anger. The contrast of the shadows on her face sharpened, making her eyes seem sunken and her cheekbones prominent. Her eyes burned with fury before dying down.

"I _said _I'm Anchiale the Titaness."

"But… I thought the Titanesses stayed neutral during the Titan wars." I'm lost right now if you can't tell.

"Ah, but this is no longer the Titans War. This is much, much better. As for being neutral, the most of the others are peaceful, but I am unsatisfied. Like you have shown, I am forgotten, lost in the shadows. That should no longer be when my patron finishes with the gods. The Titan men tried to convince me to join their cause, but I knew better. I would bide my time for a better opportunity instead of casting my lot with those fools. When we triumph, I will be worshipped as I should have been! But until then, I must take little steps to my goal. The first will be breaking you." She smiled and bent down to touch my forehead.

"Hey, what are you doing—?" I said warily, trying to back up but the manacles only let me go so far.

She touched my forehead. Burning agony ripped through my body. It was like I was on fire, but much worse. It was an undying, endless burning that seemed to get more painful by the second. I fell to the ground, screaming, sobbing pathetically, but I did not beg or plead for it to stop. I think Lupa would eat us if we did that. Any tears or sweat that formed immediately left my body and shot to Anchiale's aura where it was burned out of existence with a sizzle.

The Titanesses' voice floated somewhere around me. "Let's go. It's only a matter of time before the blessing takes its hold. I don't think it could do much without water, but you never know. There has not been a situation like this quite ever before."

I opened my eyes, seeing double, but hazily saw Bellerophon, Anchiale, and their servants walk out of the room. Before Anchiale closed the black, metal door, she turned around and smiled. "This is my little parting gift." she purred. Little bits of the blaze that surrounded her detached themselves and lingered in the room, heating it, randomly floating around or deciding to rest on the asphalt, turning it into black, bubbling goo. The temperature of the room rocketed up.

I laid on my back, head swimming with pain. Oceanus' curse crowded my mind, easily brushing past my weak attempts to keep it away. My body stiffened and moved without my own accord, but everything felt dull, my senses deadened.

However, in my head, it was a completely different story. I was trying to scream for help, but my mouth wouldn't move. The burning from Anchiale combined with the agony from trying to fight off a force of nature was unbearable, my mind not able to completely process all of it. Slowly, the pain became a part of the background, always there, but never given much thought. I faded in and out trying to collect my consciousness only to have the ocean and the pain rip it apart. I could only remember bits and pieces of my own past because the rest of my memories were currently being drowned out by the torturing visions of other people's last memories, of their horrible deaths by the sea.

I forgot where I was, who I am, only remembering the burning pain and the scenes that came to me. I had no past, no hope, nothing to hold on to. Every time, I was a new person, doomed to an atrocious death, specifically meant to anguish me, to make me suffer. Even though every death was unique but equally horrific, there was one thing that stayed the same: the feeling despondency and despair. I had no body, just a twisted, tortured mind, drifting from time to time, place to place, everywhere, anywhere.

Time passed, switching from vision to vision. I was Sirens devouring a widow who saw her husband and child alive and well again, but it was just an illusion caused by the Siren's enchanting song. I could feel the anguish and distress when she realized they were not there. She was ripped apart and eaten, her life ending prematurely.

Suicides, drownings, murders, depression, anger, and jealousy wove itself throughout the nightmares, reoccurring in endless patterns and different forms. The deaths were gorier, with more complex, layered stories as the days went on. It was as if the ocean was saving these kinds of death just for special occasions where I was already weak with pain, desperation, and exhaustion.

A feeling of something sticky and warm disturbed another vision, switching to a new one. In this one, my throat felt raw from screaming, though I don't remember screaming, or really anything else. I was on my back, facing the sun that was so intense I could literally feel my skin burning. I could smell smoke and charred wood, and it was extremely dry. This body felt completely unfamiliar. The warmth one my side was blood. Slowly, I turned my head to see an ugly person laughing at me, mocking me in a deep, guttural voice, holding a spear that was bloodied from this new body. Was the ugly guy a person or a giant of some sort? I wasn't sure. He was big and tattooed, much bigger than a human should be. I was in some sort of black room full of floating and stationary fires with a glass ceiling high up. I stayed still, ignoring the blood. It didn't matter. I would die here and move on to a new body, another past life, another dead person that I wasn't. I felt like I didn't belong in any body or form and wasn't sure if I would belong anywhere anymore.

I took in my surroundings. Something felt wrong. There was no sea. That's what was missing. In all of my other dreams, the sea's presence was always there, cold, hostile and stormy. This dream was different. Did it mean the nightmares were stopping? Strangely, I didn't care anymore. I still felt that bleak hopelessness, but I had taken so much, I felt indifferent. Death was expected. I couldn't muster the feeling to care or to put up a fight. Vaguely, I felt as if not fighting was not me. But again, I didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore.

The muscular, ugly guy and his ugly friends that surrounded me laughed, enjoying how they had broken me so that I wouldn't even fight back. I'm pretty sure if he wasn't a monster, his friends were. The half-snake, half-women gave that away, but I'm not so sure about anything now. I just wished it would all end, but it couldn't because when I died, I would just move to another life to die yet again.

The giant-ugly-man raised his spear to strike me again, and I actually reacted. I sat up quickly, dodged, the spear, grabbed the shaft and pulled, dragging the giant forward. But I didn't do that. Someone was moving this body for me. They made me grab the giant's wrist. It just started laughing, thinking it would overpower this frail, weak body. He rumbled "You cannot harm me, Ocean Demon. You have no water to use your powers."

"She is not a demon." The being forced me to speak. I wasn't doing anything, but whoever the being was could do whatever it wanted. It was fine by me. Oddly, this body's voice sounded like several people talking at the same time. It was a regular girl's voice speaking simultaneously with other voices coming out of the same mouth. There was what sounded like a tumult of people saying the same thing in the background. "And we are not powerless." He tried to pull his hand away, but I tightened my grip on him. "You forget that bodies contain fluids and water. That is all we need."

His face started twisting in horror, and then I realized it wasn't just that: his face was withering, his skin drying up; all the water that his body contained was being sucked out of him. I could see my reflection in his terrified eyes. A slight girl with black hair. But her eyes were green, with no whites, no pupils, just a glowing, sea green. Seconds later, his dried corpse hit the floor. I had an affinity for water with this body, but all the moisture that was collected flew off and were destroyed by the floating fires. That made me (whoever was controlling this body) hiss in annoyance before pouncing on other monsters, drying them into husks, trying to gather moisture and save it from the greedy flames that inevitably ate the water we worked so hard to gather.

Monsters backed away in disgust and horror, just out of my reach that was reduced by irritating chains that held me back. They all turned and fled, scrambling over one another to get out the door. I sat, smiling a smile that was more like a demented grimace, and laughed. And it wasn't just the thing controlling this body laughing. I felt no shame or horror or regret. No sense of morality. If morals were so great that I should abide by them, then why were there so many abhorrent deaths? I had lived through all of those gruesome endings, and was that fair? Was that moral? I laughed, enjoying my own insanity, knowing I was on my own, isolated with nothing other than the other person in my mind.

I looked up at the sun that seemed to never set in this room. It was baking hot, draining my power. I wasn't sure I would escape, but I would have fun dying here, enjoying the suffering. For once, it wouldn't all be pinned on me, but it would spread out between others, like it should be. I faded into a shallow slumber, continuing the cycling memories of seaside death and murder.

…

I woke up from time to time in the unfamiliar body that was in the asphalt room. It was rather strange, because all the other memories never reappeared afterwards. There wasn't the sea in this one, but there were water-involved deaths. It felt like days passed. I killed whoever was foolish enough to come within my reach that the chains limited. The room was littered with bone-dry corpses. Occasionally, food was given to me, but I eventually stopped eating. I didn't have the will to bother.

My memory started recollecting itself as the days passed, managing to stay together even through the obliterating assault that had destroyed my identity the first time. I remembered that this is my prison. I had been captured. There was Bellerophon and Anchiale, my captors. This was my real body, but it felt as foreign as all the other ones in my endless dreams. I was on a mission of some sort that I didn't remember so clearly. I had friends that would save me. That instilled some hope, but that was soon squashed by the nightmares and torturing heat.

…

I had lost track of time, unsure how long the dreams took and how the time in my prison seemed to be altered. Time passed sluggishly and slower than it should.

Finally, it hit me. No one was coming to save me. Was the time really moving as slowly as I thought? Surely, days, possibly even weeks had passed. My "friends" had been avoiding me when I first was… I don't remember exactly what happened to me, maybe something about the ocean, but they didn't want to see me after that. I was on my own. Figures. The world sucked for almost everyone, but it seemed to particularly hate me. And I would be stuck here forever, not missed, not longed for. So I laughed, at the world, at my foolish hopes, at death until tears ran down my face, but the noise sounded hollow and lifeless in my ears.

I just laughed, limply lying on my side, long black hair strewn everywhere. My eyes were open, but they didn't see anything in front of me, but the memories that had come back to me, the memories that I'd treasured that turned out to mean nothing. I let it slip away, and let the thing in my head erase the memories, let it take whatever it desired. I didn't want it. My mind faded away to a subconscious state, half-awake, but not quite there. Whatever controlled my movements could do whatever it wished, I had truly given up. If my life ended, it ended. I had no choice if it was cut off, and I could die right now for all I cared. I was left with nothing, wanting nothing, needing nothing, and doing nothing but laugh.

All I did was laugh.

**Poor Gwen… I wanted to let you see from her point of view. Did I write this chapter well? It was hard to convey exactly how she felt for me. I've never written from the point of view of a person slowly going mad. Yes, I drove her insane, and you can hate me all you want, but it just makes you love her more. At least it does for me. My mind might seem a little off.**

**Review for Gwen's sake!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm still wondering why I did that to Gwen. I think it's because she's my favorite. It's fun torturing your favorite character, right? Or maybe that's just me. If you think that was mean and uncalled for, hey, Hunger Games Trilogy is extremely popular and guess what happens? Lots of people die. Gwen didn't die: she went insane. I think that's much better. **

**To Happy HS, Me too! Uncontrollable powers make everyone more awesome.**

**To AKAAkira, It was mainly Oceanus but a tiny bit just-plain-insane-Gwen.**

**To AthenaAtremis, Thank you. You're the first person that's ever told me that and I really appreciate it. I try my best to make you readers happy! ^.^**

**And now, we switch back to the rescue party that Gwen doesn't think exists! The house will hold many wonderful surprises for Percy and the gang. MWAHAHA! Ahem. Sorry, I have a cold.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. I'm sorry to disappoint you.**

**Chapter 18:**

**PERCY**

The gate swung open and Dakota walked through.

"See? That was easy." he said and turned around to beckon for us to come.

"There is something wrong here." I muttered.

Bobby nodded in agreement. I jumped at every noise and stared warily at every shadow, cautious of what it might hide. The torn up garden with all the plants spilling out everywhere looked downright eerie in the murky night. A full moon shone through the dark clouds that blanketed the midnight sky.

"Okay, we find Gwen and run. No stopping to fight or anything. We don't want to deal with any wounds." Reyna told the plan to everyone in a hushed voice.

"What if that doesn't work?" Bobby asked.

"Then we'll have to improvise. Let's just hope Plan A works."

"That's reassuring."

Reyna shrugged. "Got a better idea?"

"No." he admitted.

Dakota waved his arms around to get our attentions. He called "Come on! Stop wasting time talking!" We started walking along the garden path. Besides going to get Gwen, I _really_ didn't want to go in there. That idea of going in there was as appealing as swallowing broken glass. The house loomed over us, dark and foreboding.

"One more thing." Bobby stopped us, looking up at the building. "This house is huge. How are we supposed to find her?"

"Trial and error?" I said.

"This is great. Just great." Bobby moaned. "We're all going to die."

"Aw, don't be so optimistic!" Dakota cheerfully cried. We all cringed at the volume of his voice. If there was anyone here—no doubt there was—they would know that we're here right now. Dakota continued his shower of joy, spreading it all around. "It could be much worse!"

"Does he do this when there's impending doom?" I asked Bobby.

"All the time."

"Wonderful."

"Hey, I didn't go super happy in Salmon Creek." Dakota pointed out. "Then again, I was wondering how Percy managed to run off with the one raised-from-the-dead, insane guy out of all the people in the world."

"In my defense, he was there for a reason, and trouble hunts me down, not the other way around." I indignantly said. There always seemed to be something out for my blood.

We reached the sagging, derelict patio and stopped in front of the door.

"I suppose we're not going to be ringing the doorbell, are we?" Dakota grinned.

"Gods, please make him shut up." Reyna muttered.

We stood there in silence, waiting for another to make the first move. Dakota started humming "The Best Day Ever" from SpongeBob SquarePants.

Finally, Dakota sighed "Well, if no one wants to open the door, I will." He turned the doorknob and pushed.

"Shouldn't that be locked?" Bobby practically complained while Dakota skipped through the threshold.

I walked through the door, looking around. Shadows covered nearly everything because there was no lighting and it was a cloudy night. The front room was kind of like the Fortress', but warmer and colder (feeling-wise) at the same time. There were twin staircases on each side of the room. The house seemed to radiate hostility as if it could tell we didn't belong here.

"Dude, enough with the happy." I said, firmly planting my hands on Dakota's shoulders so he couldn't frolic around.

He shrugged me off and then gazed around the room. Suddenly, Dakota spun around and grabbed his sword.

"Did you see that? There's something here." he said warily, the childishness disappearing in an instant at the first sight of danger. We all gripped our weapons and instinctively stepped into a defensive formation, covering each other's back. For a long time, we stood there, eyes flitting around the room, making sure there wasn't anyone here.

"I guess it's nothing…" I whispered, capping Riptide.

"Why are we whispering if there's nothing?" Reyna asked/whispered.

I shrugged. "Okay, let's look around. What's up those stairs?" I didn't raise my voice. The feeling of emptiness was surely fake. Maybe the _dracaenae_ lied where Gwen is… but it would be hard to think of a lie when your oxygen supply was being cut off by a son of Mars who was screaming in your face with his eyes on fire, radiating an aura created by sheer fury.

We walked across the room and were right in the middle of the wide space when I heard a soft click.

"Did the door just lock itself?" Bobby hissed, pulling out his sword. No one answered, but I uncapped Riptide and Reyna nocked an arrow on her bow.

"Perseus Jackson." a woman's voice rang out over the vast, empty room. A person appeared on the balcony that looked over the front room.

I gripped Riptide and fell into a defensive stance. "Who are you?" At the same time, Bobby and Dakota gasped "Front desk lady?"

It _was _front desk lady. African American, curly, dark black hair, perfect skin and figure… yep, that's her. She was pretty, but I didn't care so much about that. She was familiar, but not in a my-old-good-friend-Sally way. More like, kill-her-now-before-she-kills-you familiar.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned, glaring at her. Just seeing her sent a faint feeling of mistrust and a little fear.

"I go by many names, but front desk lady was not one of them." she said in contempt before answering my question. "I am here because of you. I want my revenge. Gaea blessed me with the chance to return and destroy you and your little girlfriend." Her lip curled with disgust and hate when she said 'girlfriend.' "Yes, she will be devastated when she finds out your dead. Easy killing after that."

"Who are you?" Bobby demanded, but he still seemed a little dreamy just from seeing her. "Are you a mortal of some sort that's escaped from the Underworld?"

She hissed when he said that, her hair lighting on fire for a few seconds before it died down. "I am no mortal, and do not mistake me or any of my kind for a pathetic, weak _human._" she spat. "I am an _empousa,_ the servants of Hecate," Reyna grumbled something about stupid Greek names. Bobby narrowed his eyes. "created with Dark Magic, combining animal, bronze, and ghost!" Her hair exploded into flames, hands elongating into claws, showing her true form, but her form flickered between horrible monster and pretty front desk lady. "Though you may remember me simply as Kelli." She smiled, mouth full of fangs and jumped off the balcony, landing on the floor on her feet with ease. Her skin had turned pale, all the color drained and her regular legs were now completely different. One leg was like a donkey's and the other was a bronze. The smell wafting towards us was intoxicating. Like roses and freshly washed animal fur…

"Kelli… Kelli…" I muttered, trying to think. I felt where the memories were supposed to be, but there was nothing. "I don't remember you."

She looked shocked and offended. "What! You don't… Well, I'll just have to jog your memory. You and your friends will make a wonderful snack—" She jerked her head to the side, but still earned a good-sized cut to the cheek as an arrow whizzed by.

Reyna lowered her bow. "You talk too much, demon."

Kelli looked murderous. "How dare you! I usually don't kill girls, but I will have an exception for you! Servants of Gaea, to me!" she howled. _Dracaenae_ streamed out of the stairs and doorways leading to the front room, accompanied by a pack of hellhounds and a group Laistrygonian giants equipped with trees as leafy clubs. Reyna shot with her golden bow at the crowd, thinning them out. The monsters crashed upon us, wave after wave.

I sprang at the _empousa, _but Kelli dodged me, jumping on Dakota. I guess she viewed him as the weakest link. I had to fend off a hellhound, unable to help him. "Lower your sword, warrior. I couldn't hurt you… Just give me a kiss…" she purred, leaning closer. Dakota's sword clattered out of his limp grasp.

"Okay…" he mumbled. Kelli probably would've drank his blood right there and then if it wasn't for Bobby. He stabbed right at her face and yelled "Get away from my friend, woman!" Sadly, Kelli leapt out of the way. The _empousa _moved so fast she was a blur. Dakota shook his head in confusion once the demon got away from him and picked up his sword just in time to parry a blow from a _dracaenae_. Kelli cocked her head to one side, examining Bobby and inhaled deeply.

"Mmm… you smell delicious." Kelli said in a seductive voice. She started looking like regular front desk lady and stepped closer. Bobby tried to back up, but the more Kelli advanced, the less Bobby retreated. His eyelids drooped low. I acted quickly before blood-drinker attacked him, trying to decapitate her. She spun around and ducked out of the way, slashing at my chest. I deflected her claws with the flat side of Riptide and retaliated by feinting a swing to her side, but flicked my wrist at the last second, changing the direction suddenly at her neck. Unfortunately, Kelli obviously couldn't fall for that. She dropped to the floor and swung her legs around, taking out my own. I hit the ground, painfully landing on my back. The demon launched herself at me, trying to rip out my throat with her fangs, but they just skated off, making her hiss with annoyance. I tried to push Kelli off, but the aroma coming off of her made my arms feel like lead.

"You bathed in the River Styx." she snarled. "Much has changed since the Laybrinth. But this time, you have no Blondie to save you." Suddenly, someone grabbed Kelli by the hair and dragged her off. As soon as the _empousa _wasn't sitting on me, my head started clearing and my arms didn't feel like weights anymore.

Reyna stood over me, _empousa's _hair in hand. She threw the demon aside and helped me up before pulling out her gold sword and stabbing at Kelli.

"He has a new Blondie." she announced, glaring daggers at the _empousa_. Kelli tried jumping out of the way, but Reyna kicked her midair, making Kelli fall to the ground, and brought the sword down on her. The sword made contact with her stomach and the demon exploded into a column of flames. An angry screech and the smell of ashes were all that was left of Kelli.

"Are your hands okay?" I said, concerned. I sliced a javelin out of the air with Riptide before it struck Reyna in the back. "Her hair was on fire, so that has to be painful."

"Nah, children of Apollo are able to withstand higher temperatures and fire better than most people. Is she dead? I've never seen a monster do that before." Reyna asked, stabbing a _dracaenae _in the face.

"I don't think so… she would have turned into that yellow powder stuff. Let's go help Bobby and Dakota." I said, driving a group of more snake women away with a wide swing of Riptide.

Dakota was climbing on the back of a Laistrygonian, stabbing and slashing, but this particular one was big and had some pretty effective armor. The giant roared in anger and shook Dakota off. That would've broken some ribs once he hit the floor, but Dakota was smart (for once) and rolled to soften the landing. However, his sword skittered out of his hands, sliding across the room. Bobby was dueling several _dracaenae, _but he saw Dakota unarmed and helped out. When a _dracaenae_ sent an overhand slash at Bobby, he simply spun around and kicked her wrist, sending her sword flying towards Dakota, which he plucked out of the air and kept on attacking the giant while Bobby continued to maul the seemingly endless monsters.

"It doesn't look like they need help." Reyna muttered, but shot the Laistrygonian in the neck and face until he disintegrated away into sickly yellow powder.

We fought our way to the other two. Reyna battled with both bow and sword, occasionally slinging her bow across her shoulder to unsheathe her gladius and get rid of some monsters that got too close for her long range weapon.

"Welcome to the party." Dakota grinned at us once we got to them. He had recovered his golden sword, but he still wielded the monster's blade in the other hand. His face was spattered with monster slime, but he didn't really seem to care. In fact, he acted happier and more easygoing in the heat of battle. I grunted my greeting.

"We have to run." I said. "There's no way we're going to beat them all. They keep reforming too fast."

"Aw, but this is fun! Do we have too?" Dakota whined, slitting a _dracaenae's_ throat.

"Dakota, how many times have I talked to you about your bloodlust problem?" Bobby sighed.

Dakota grumbled grumpily like a whiney child.

"We need to find Gwen and leave. This place must hold many other monstrosities." Reyna warned. A Laistrygonian tried to bash her into the floor, but she darted forward while pulling out her gladius, ran up its side and stabbed it repeatedly in the face. She backflipped off the giant's head while it was disintegrating, sheathing her sword and shooting several arrows before landing on her feet.

"Showoff." Bobby muttered.

"Let's go." she said briefly before running towards the stairs without turning around to make sure we followed her. Dakota sighed sadly and we dashed off next to her.

The monsters saw we were trying to run and began to block us. A hellhound charged me, and I ran towards it, sliding right before we made contact. I raised Riptide up, slicing the monster's stomach in half as I slid under it. I felt a twist of remorse for killing it for some reason but continued running after I had cleared the hellhound. Bobby and Dakota worked as a unit, and obviously they had trained together for the longest time. They systematically slew monsters with their strange technique. Reyna gracefully wove her way through the crowd. She probably could've run past everything, but she had to wait up for us with an impatient look on her face.

We reached the stairs and started climbing, dodging the rain of arrows trying to stop us. Bobby took an arrow to the shoulder, but did nothing more than wince and continue moving. Finally, we reached the top and ran down the hallway with the army of monsters on our heels. Reyna shot at them, but she was running out of arrows in her quiver.

"In here!" I told them and opened a random door, waiting for them to run in before going in myself and then closing it. It lead into a small room filled with boxes. "We have to shake them off."

"Or we could stop and fight." Dakota said hopefully.

"No." I firmly said. "Now is there another door here?" We found one and walked through it right as a Laistrygonian opened the door.

"There they is!" it yelled. "Joe Bob and Babycakes have feast!" Who the heck is Babycakes? And why does that sound faintly familiar?

We raced down halls and went through doorways at random intervals. There was always a hissing of a _dracaenae _in the background, yelling "Get them! Sssearch all the roomsss and capture the demigodsss!"

Some of the rooms were empty, but sometimes they held strange things. Once, Dakota opened a door and immediately, a jet of fire shot at us. He quickly slammed it shut and continued running, but the thing inside it busted down the door and stampeded towards us. Two bronze bulls were chasing us, little globules of flames spilling out of their nostrils, charring the walls.

"Okay, I'm done running." Dakota announced, stopping to turn around and face the bulls. "Bring it on, fire cows!" He pulled out his two swords and got into a fighting position.

They sped up, billowing flames at him, but Dakota dove, his body parallel to the ground, sword held out to his sides. He nicked one of the bull's front left leg and the _dracaenae's _sword got jammed in the other bull, but otherwise, it didn't affect them much. Bobby took this opportunity to lean against a wall and press his hand against his bleeding wound. He was looking pale and blood trickled at a steady rate through his fingers.

"Might as well treat him." I told Reyna before jumping in to help Dakota with Riptide in hand. _Dakota, I better not die just because you wanted to have some fun. _I grumbled in my head.

I stabbed out one of the automaton's ruby eye and jumped back quickly, trying to draw it away from Bobby and Reyna. It turned and bellowed with fury, pawing the ground before charging me, horns pointed at my chest. Somehow, I knew how to deal with a charging bull. I stood still until the last second and leapt sideways out of the way. The bronze automaton had run with so much momentum, it couldn't change directions and got stuck in the wall. Not just its horns, but I'm talking its whole head. It tried to back up, but is was well and truly trapped there.

I turned around, prepared to save Dakota from being bloodily gored, but he was standing over the smoldering ruins of the other bull with an innocent smile, a smile almost like a child's. And it was really freaking me out.

"How did you…?" I said in disbelief. His smile was beginning to get even creepier. "You know what? I'm not even going to ask."

I heard a faint yell from the mob that was chasing us. "We have to go. Is your wound better, Bobby?" I asked.

The bloody arrow had been pulled out and was lying by his feet. Reyna was pouring a little bit of nectar into the wound and it closed up a bit, but it was still there, oozing blood. At least it wasn't bleeding profusely anymore.

"It's getting better." He said in a tight voice, obviously in pain. "But it doesn't matter, we need to get going."

I was concerned about him, but it was true, we really need to leave. "Let's try this door." I said, opening it up. A mud-covered hand immediately shot out and dragged me in the dark, moist room making me drop Riptide. I tried to yell, but another hand clamped over my mouth. The others shouted in alarm. I heard their heavy footsteps (and Dakota's muttered complaints) as they ran in to rescue me. Reyna had pulled out a flashlight and was shining it inside the room, letting me see who my captors were.

I heard Reyna sharply take in a breath and hiss "Gegenees. Earthborns."

The hand that grabbed me wasn't mud covered. It _was _mud. Okay, that's just disgusting. I tried to rip the mud-hand off of my face to spit out the mud that was in my mouth, but the Earthborn was too strong. Gross. Plus, these things were six-armed mud-men. Six mud-men that never bathed, with six armpits apiece. I gagged, and the smell motivated me enough to break away from the monster and feel my pocket for Riptide, but it still hadn't reappeared yet.

"You guys smell like a petting zoo that's been soaked in raw sewage and festered out in the sun all day." I said in disgust. For once, Dakota heartily agreed with me.

"No be mean to petting zoo!" roared one of them. "Petting zoo fun!" The other Earthborns agreed with grammar like a two-year-old's.

Other Gegenees seemed to melt off the walls, which were all brown and muddy. The room was modeled like a dark, humid carver, complete with stalactites and stalagmites. They were like daggers, much sharper than nature could be able to form.

Suddenly, a light appeared in the room, like a flickering flame. It was a beautiful woman enveloped in a warm aura that looked like and felt like fire. Her eyes danced with flames. She was dressed in elegant pink-orange robes and radiated a sense of power that only an immortal could give off.

"I apologize for these beasts. They're not very sanitary, but they certainly do their job." She said, smiling, showing off her pearly whites, which were very white and pearly, by the way.

I tried to make a witty response, but it came out more like "Uh..."

"You idiots really can't handle a pretty face." Reyna muttered. "Who are you? I'm assuming you're some sort of deity? What are you doing here and what do you want with us?"

The deity scowled at her, suddenly sour. "I'm here because I want more. I understand that's a concept you're familiar with."

Bobby's eyes flickered around suspiciously. "Let's get out of here. There's nothing but trouble." He darted for the door, but the woman flicked her wrist and the door slammed shut. The only light in the room now came from Reyna's flashlight and the woman's aura.

"We don't want to leave just yet. I haven't even introduced myself." She said warmly, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. In fact, her eyes were steely can scornful. "I am Anchiale, the Titaness."

Reyna shook her head in confusion."But… Titanesses stayed neutral."

The woman scowled. "Yes, yes, don't you think that I, out of all the people would know that? You don't have to remind me. You should know this by now. This is no longer the Titan war—"

"Okay, we get it, doom and Armageddon, we get it. It happens quite a lot, actually." Dakota interrupted impatiently. "Why have you brought us here? We know your name, but who _exactly_ are you?"

Anchiale bristled for being cut off. She put her arrogant nose in the air and sniffed haughtily "I am here for respect, for profit. It's irrelevant who I am, for you will not survive long enough for me to even bother. But I know who you are. You are the ones that must be destroyed for me to succeed."

**Okay, that was a sort of action chapter, but there's more action in the next one, which will be through Dakota's point of view. I wanted to fit the entire house-raid in this chapter, but that would be way to long, so I'm just putting this. As for the bulls, I know Camp Half-Blood has two of them, but supposedly, Hephaestus made four. There's going to be different, more exotic monsters, not just the standard Laistrygonians, **_**dracaenae**_**, hellhounds, and Earthborns next chapter. :D It's going to be fun.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to all of you that reviewed! I got a lot more than I hoped for. :D I wasn't able to get my hands on my family's computer (one laptop for four people that are all as big of computer hogs as I am. Not easy.) for a long time, so I couldn't check all the reviews and post the next chapter. Plus I was getting ready for school, trying out for cross country (it's **_**really **_**early), ect., ect. And I got caught up in Tiny Wings. That game is **_**addicting. **_**As an apology for taking forever, I made this chapter extra long.**

**In other fanfics, the authors know how many people read their story. Can someone PM me how to do that?**

**Oh, if you haven't read The Demigod Files, Anchiale's father issue won't make sense. I'll explain later. **

**To AKAAkira, I made sure to replace the chapter. I don't know how I'm not motivated with a hundred reviews, but only one person reviewed Chapter 18, so I thought people stopped reading my story or something… Well, now I put up this chapter! **

**Thank you to Happy HS! Lame pep talks are the best pep talks out there and always will be. So yes, they do make me smile. **

**To Cicire, Actually, Tyson smashed them into a pulp. Percy didn't do much to the bulls the first time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO…**

**Chapter 19:**

**DAKOTA**

My first thought: How overdramatic. I mean, if you're going to try and kill us, just go ahead with it, don't make a speech before that and then _warn us_ that you're trying to assassinate us. That's the problem with Titans, they like to gloat and bask in their own glory. Arrogance is usually their downfall. And thanks to Anchiale's overlarge ego, I got a head start and attacked right as she finished her sentence, senses ultrasensitive from my ADHD. Of course, Bobby knew me so well that he unsheathed his sword and pounced on a monster at the same time.

My sword sank through an Earthborn's doughy stomach with ease, the monster turning into a pile of clay. His brothers yelled "Kill friend of Yay-son! Kill!" and scooped up balls of earth which immediately hardened into sharp missiles that they chucked at me. I dodged most of them and deflected one off my blade and kept running towards Anchiale.

She waited for me, smiling sinisterly. "You think you can take me, mortal?"

"Maybe," I said, returning the smile.

Her fiery aura flared up, searing the air around her. It consumed the mud around her, baking it until it hardened into dense clay.

"Or maybe not." I decided, going for another Earthborn. It had ripped off one of the stalactites and used it as a lance to fend off Bobby. He was struggling with his injured shoulder, but together we reduced it to a pile of squishy mud.

"I got her." I heard Percy call. He had somehow retrieved his bronze sword and charged the Titaness. Her overconfident smile wavered and she involuntarily took a step back.

"You're the one who made dragged my father into the River Lethe," she hissed, eyes flaring with anger. "Because of you, the former great warrior Iapetus believes he is your friend named Bob!"

Where in the name of Jupiter did that come from? I got so distracted by that, an Earthborn managed to throw a rock cannonball at my stomach, knocking the breath out of me.

Percy was just as surprised. "What?" he said in utter confusion.

She took that opportunity to use her Titan powers. Anchiale looked like she was just harmlessly pushing the air, but a jet of not-so-harmless flames shot out of her hands and engulfed Percy. Reyna screamed in horror and ran up towards him, dodging the fire Anchiale shot at her.

And there Percy was… perfectly fine. His clothes were singed, but yes, perfectly fine.

Reyna looked relieved. "Percy! I thought you died!"

"Curse of Achilles, remember?" he assured. "But for now, help me get rid of pyromaniac over here."

"I am no pyromaniac! I am the physical embodiment of fire itself!"

"Yeah, whatever, pyromaniac." Reyna growled and whipped out her bow, shooting a rapid volley at Anchiale that the Titan incinerated in response.

"Yeah, we'll just take out the lowly monsters while you fight with the important one, O Great Heroes." Bobby muttered grumpily. We had destroyed at least a dozen Earthborn, but there was still plenty more. I cut off all six arms from one, and Bobby impaled another. My feet kept on getting stuck in the piles of mud left from the slain Earthborn.

Percy charged Anchiale, sword raised. She backed up, trying to burn him to death, but he just ran through the flames. He stabbed at her, but she conjured a blast of hot air that made Percy stagger backwards. Anchiale pulled out a gold knife, trying to defend herself, but she wasn't much of a fighter. Percy outclassed her easily, but it was her Titan powers that saved her. She was covered in cuts that oozed ichor.

"Where is your mortal point, hero?" she hissed, trying to escape at the same time.

"Why would I ever tell you that?" Percy shot back, slashing at her shoulder, which she parried with some difficulty.

"I could get you your memory back, Perseus." She offered, eyes glinting with malice. Even though it was obvious she intended no good for us, Percy lowered his sword and perked up.

And then everything went wrong. Anchiale used the distraction to shoot flames at Reyna, engulfing her in ruddy fire. She screamed. It was a horrible sound that was full of pain. An Earthborn that only had its upper torso reformed reached out and grabbed my leg, pulling me down and then slamming my face with its fist. Percy took a rock cannonball from another Earthborn to the side of his head, knocking him over.

I heard the Titaness speak, but my head was throbbing badly, so everything was kind of fuzzy. "I will return, Jackson. This house was specifically made for you and your friends. Let's see if you survive." Anchiale said sinisterly before revealing her true form, filling the cavern with harsh, hot light, blinding us all before the brightness abated.

Bobby ran over to gore the Earthborn that smashed my face and helped me up into a sitting position. "You okay, Dakota?"

I was swaying a little, but I nodded and stood without his help. "I'm in once piece. So she just ran away? What a coward."

"She's a Titan. What can you expect?"

With Bobby's help, we destroyed the few remaining Earthborn. Anchiale had killed a couple of them by assuming her true form.

Once we had gotten rid of the immediate threat, we ran over to Reyna's side, where Percy already was, hovering protectively over her. Her eyes fluttered open when we kneeled by her side. Almost all of Reyna's skin was burned to some degree. Her golden hair was singed and charred a black color. Overall, she was a reddish color and smelled of burnt hair.

"Reyna? Are you okay? How bad are your burns? Do you need ambrosia or nectar? Do you have any burn salves in your first aid kit?" Percy shot out rapid-fire questions. His eyes were screwed up in concern.

"Whoa, loverboy, don't overwhelm her with all those questions." I said, holding up my hands as if stopping him.

He scowled at me and responded "I'm not a loverboy. I'm just… worried about her."

"Yeah, that's it." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Enough talk," Bobby silenced us. "Let's get out the first aid kit."

Reyna croaked out "Water." Guessing from how raspy and gravelly her voice is, the heat from Anchiale dried out her throat. She placed her hand over her mouth and coughed up blood. Or maybe "dried out her throat" is a bit of an understatement.

"Okay, that's not good." I said, hurriedly putting a water bottle in her hands. She drank all of it in one sitting.

Bobby had gotten some balm/slave thing (I was never good at heal-y things) and smeared it on her arms. The red faded away enough for Reyna to put on the rest by herself.

"If I ever see Anchiale again," Reyna growled murderously. "I'm going to kill that pyromaniac. Preferably by drowning."

"Well, it's nice to know she didn't burn the spine out of you." Percy said, obviously relieved at her greatly improved condition.

She unsteadily stood up. "That would be impossible to do." Reyna flashed a brief smile at Percy and began to walk towards the door. "Let's go find Gwen."

We stepped outside, checking the halls for monsters, but thankfully, the mob had moved on somewhere else in the house.

"Okay, this house is full of nasties, we don't know where to go and we're missing a person. All under control." I heard Percy mutter to himself.

"Look for signs that something is special. Sentries, locks, suspicious things like that." Bobby advised. "They're not going to just leave Gwen unguarded."

We ran into several groups of monsters, but Reyna was in a bad mood because of Anchiale and shot them dead before they could do anything.

"Stupid… freaking… going to kill…" I could hear her curse under her breath.

"Daughter of Mister Sunshine himself isn't feeling so sunny, huh?" I joked. I always became even more annoying in grave danger. It vents my nervousness. Or in some cases, bloodlust, as Bobby calls it. I call it my need for fun.

"Dakota, I'm going to murder you." Reyna said decisively.

"Dun dun duuunn!" I said ominously and then laughed. Reyna's dark expression didn't change.

"She didn't mean that, did she?" I whispered to Bobby. He managed to keep a mournful face before a laugh broke through. Still, Reyna's expression didn't change.

"Okaaaaaay…" I backed away from Miss Sunshine.

We rounded a corner carefully, not wanting a surprise waiting for us when we turned, but instead, we heard laughing. Demented, tortured, insane laughter. Not even _I_ could conjure up such a creepy, manic laughter, even if I was out-of-control with my thirst for blood on the battlefield. That had happened in the Battle of Mount Othrys, and it wasn't half as scary-sounding as what we heard now.

"What the Hades is that?" Percy hissed, raising his sword defensively. We were all so unnerved we didn't even bother correcting him.

"That's your best friend." A dry, sarcastic voice said behind us. A _familiar _dry, sarcastic voice.

I spun around and gripped my sword. "Front desk lady." I said coolly.

"Kelli." Growled Percy. "I thought Reyna killed you."

Kelli laughed (while rudely ignoring me) and sneered "Did you think your replacement Blondie could really slay me?"

"Replacement Blondie?" Reyna indignantly grumbled.

"Who was the first Blondie?" I asked.

Front desk lady smiled and said "You're going to have some competition."

"Where is your little army?" Percy demanded warily.

"They're on the way." She said, cocking her head to one side and smiled. "Killing all four of you will be difficult without help, but holding you off till the others arrive won't be too hard. One has an arrow to the shoulder, another was burned alive. You are all tired, but I have much better endurance than you mortals, plus millennia of experience."

"Annabeth still defeated you, right?" Percy said quietly. "That's why you want revenge. You're not invincible. _I_ am." Kelli scowled and narrowed her eyes. Her hair exploded into flames, and her skin became chalk white.

"You have no chance." She hissed. "This house was modeled after the Laybrinth. If you try to retrace your steps, you would find it impossible. If you end up anywhere, it is by chance, or by someone's will. Only certain people can navigate this house with success."

"Laybrinth... Laybrinth…" Percy murmured. "Sounds familiar."

"Yes, yes, you and your little girlfriend defeated me in there." Kelli snapped.

"That's encouraging." Percy cheekily smiled.

"Well, it's nice to know you guys know each other, but isn't there an army approaching or something? Heeellooo? Is anyone listening to me?" I sighed when they confirmed they weren't. I took in my surroundings, planning ahead. Being in a hall would limit maneuvering but oh well. "Will this get your attention?" I leapt forward and swung at Kelli.

She hopped backwards and hissed "You have no respect, mortal."

"You're right, I don't." I agreed and slashed at her legs, but she jumped over my sword and leapt towards me to grab my arm. Her claws dug into my skin, drawing blood and pulled me closer to her. I tried not to breathe in her alluring scent and concentrated on the floor, not her long, dark, beautiful hair… and those eyes…

"Don't fight, Dakota. Wouldn't you like a kiss?" Kelli put her face right next to mine and was getting closer… I heard Bobby yell and Kelli backed up, but I involuntarily stepped closer to her.

I shook my head when I realized what did, but Kelli had already lured me close enough for her to pounce. I was too groggy from her power over me to even put up a fight. Her teeth grazed my neck, making me shiver. My life flashed before my eyes in seconds, the summary of my short, sad life. Maybe I would get into the Isles of Blest. Then again Pluto doesn't like me, and vice versa. It would be more likely for eternal damnation or something like that. And then I heard a fleshy thump and Kelli's hiss of hatred. I'm not damned! I looked up, expecting Bobby. Instead, Percy stood in front of me, and guessing how Kelli was sprawled against the wall, wincing and holding her stomach, he had just saved my life.

"Your fight is with me. Don't even bother with him." He said, pointing his sword at her. Then he looked back at us. "Find Gwen and go. The other monsters are getting closer."

"No." Reyna firmly announced. "I'm staying with you."

"You didn't expect us to leave you on your own did you?" Bobby grinned, but he looked a tiny bit nervous.

"Um, well I was thinking, we should listen to Percy…" I started and then was cut off by the glares of Reyna and Bobby. "Or we could doom ourselves. Doom it is."

"Guys, you don't have to do this." He said, but he looked grateful.

"If you're done with your motivational speech, I have a score to settle." Kelli snarled and shot up like a bullet, flipped over Percy and landed on her feet behind him. Percy whirled around, but she had already gone after Reyna. The _empousa_ shoved her down and stomped on Reyna's face, making her head sharply jerk to one side. Thankfully for her, Bobby intervened. He tackled Kelli and pinned her down, face first with his sword at Kelli's neck. Reyna woozily stood, needing the wall for support.

"Not as good as you thought you are, huh?" Bobby smirked. But he doesn't gloat. He was planning something, but I'm not sure what. "No wonder you could only qualify to be a servant of what's-her-face."

"It's Trivia, you fool. And your overinflated ego will kill you soon." Kelli growled, but it was muffled because her face was shoved into the floor.

"Before you said Hecate. Why is that?" he questioned and pressed his sword deeper into her neck.

She laughed. "Because before, I was talking to your 'friend.' Or so you think he is. If only you knew who he really is…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, puzzled. Kelli took advantage of his confusion to quickly grab Bobby's wrists and flip him over, slamming him onto the ground on his back.

She lashed out with her claws, slashing his chest open. I swung my sword, knowing she'd jump backwards to dodge it, thus driving her away from Bobby. I kicked her in the chest and tried to rent her open from right shoulder to left hip. She dodged it (somewhat) but not quite fast enough and earned a shallow cut that bled with the golden blood of immortals, ichor.

At first she looked shock and then it was murderous. "I guess I'll kill you first."

She leapt with her claws poised at my throat. I felt like everything was slowing down, ADHD making my senses work overtime. I raised my sword to retaliate, but then there was a loud clamor in the background. The rough grunts of monsters, the low battle chants, and the sound of weapons and shields rasping against each other. The vibrations from the marching army shook the ground. All that distraction made my eyes flit towards the noise. A javelin flew out from the corner, impaling itself an inch away from my head. I jerked away from it, which made me stumble. Kelli was getting too close. I futilely tried to react in time, but I wasn't really sure if I'd make it. Percy pushed me out of the way (saving my life _again_. It's annoying to be in debt to this guy), deflected her claws and shoved her back with the flat of his blade.

She hissed and tackled his legs, knocking him down on his chest. He started getting up, but Kelli clawed down his back, shredding his shirt to ribbons. It only took a moment, but it felt like an hour. Something was wrong here. Percy had frozen, as if paralyzed, the shock evident on his face. The air felt heavy with dread and danger. Her claws were about to reach the small of his back. I tensed, about to dive forward to stab her in the back, when Reyna beat me to it. Her gold sword cleaved through Kelli like butter.

I could clearly see the shock, for once, on the demon's face. "Not again—" she choked about before disintegrating into dust.

Percy shakily stood up. His face was pale, and his eyes seemed to be far off.

"Are you okay, Percy?" Reyna asked, immediately rushing forward and throwing her arms around him.

He awkwardly patted her back. "Yeah… it's just… nothing."

But it was obviously something. However, what happened shook him, and I didn't have the heart to pry after he saved my life. Twice. Sadly for him, he had no time to recuperate. The Fates _really _didn't like us today.

"You killed the demon? Good. I didn't really like the thing. It kept threatening to drink my blood." A familiar voice said. The man's figure rounded the corner, followed by a monstrous mob. Bellerphoron smiled at us. "You don't look very happy to see me."

"Let's run. We can't take them." Reyna muttered, eyes scanning the area.

"Oh, I wouldn't try that. Gwen won't welcome visitors." Bellerphoron advised.

"Go, I'll take them. Find Gwen and leave. I'll manage to get out." Percy ordered, ignoring Bellerphoron.

Reyna protested "But—"

"GO!" he yelled, drawing his sword.

She looked uncertain, but together we turned and ran. I didn't like fleeing from battle, but I was forming a grudging respect for Percy. Even if he was annoying, I never defied direct orders from a leader. Or at least, leaders that I consider deserve my respect. I took one last look behind us.

"STOP THEM!" Bellerophon screamed, pointing at us. "DON'T LET THEM GET THE GIRL!"

Percy's eyes narrowed, and for a second, he seemed… otherworldly. Godly, almost, not that I'd seen many gods. As if he could take on anything and live, no doubt some crazy horse guy. He raised his sword and fearlessly charged them, as if he's done that before, maybe even something bigger.

Javelins and arrows whizzed by us, but the army of monsters were being funneled into the corridor, and only a few were able to get pass at once. Percy was effectively holding them back. I could hear Bellerphoron screaming and swearing like a madman.

Reyna quickly treated Bobby's chest that was slashed open from Kelli. The blood soaked the band-aids quickly but it was the best we could do in this amount of time.

The hallway we dashed down had no other halls going off into other directions and no doors. We stopped at a dead end. A window looked out into the backyard. There was only one, black door. I reached to open it, but immediately let go of the doorknob with a yelp.

"That thing is _burning_." I winced, holding my red-tinged hand. Reyna rolled her eyes and twisted the knob.

"It's not that bad." She grumbled and pushed open the door. As soon as she did that, a wall of heat blasted our faces.

"Maybe we should find another door." Bobby suggested, reaching to close the door. The sound of battle became closer, along with a triumphant cry from the monsters, accompanied by a loud curse from Percy. "Maybe we should go in here." Bobby quickly changed his mind.

We stepped inside the stove-like room. Walking through the threshold was a weird sensation. It was like time was slurring and slowing. When we completely passed through the doorway, time returned to normal. Weird.

Well, anyways, about the room. It was completely made out of asphalt with a glass ceiling, magnifying the sun, turning it from searing to melt-your-face-off. Little bits of flames that looked suspiciously like the orange-y aura from Anchiale floated around the room. I was sweating from the heat, but whatever I sweated was sucked off my skin and burned into nothingness by the flames. We started walking to the middle, avoiding the scalding fires. On our way, monster-corpses littered the ground. Even for me, they were gruesome. Giant, muscular Laistrygonians were now, small, shriveled husks. Their mouths were open in silent screams of horror, the look of disgust and fear frozen on their faces. Various types of monsters, big or small were scattered everywhere. Reyna and Bobby were looking green.

"What kind of… _beast_ would do this? To its own comrades?" Reyna asked in revulsion.

And then we saw a limp figure, trapped in chains, in the middle, lying on its side, back towards us. No, not it… her?

"Oh my gods… is that Gwen?" Reyna gasped.

We rushed forward, shaking Gwen awake, or whatever trace thing she was in. Still, she didn't open her eyes. Bobby slashed through the chains with his sword.

"Gwen, come on, wake up! We need you to _get up!_" Bobby said urgently, looking in the direction of the army.

And she opened her eyes.

But they weren't her eyes. They were glowing, sinister green. It swirled around like currents, which gave them a dizzying effect. There was no flicker of recognition, no relief from being rescued. This is just _wrong_. That isn't Gwen. That's Oceanus.

And then she spoke. Her voice… wasn't human. It was a tumult of whispering voices, indistinguishable individually, but together, it made a strong, powerful voice. There was a trace of Gwen's true voice in there, but it was just a mere murmur.

"You came? That changes things. You shouldn't be here."

And then she grabbed my throat. Her grip was way too strong for a regular demigod. It was inhuman and abnormal, just like her voice and eyes. I weakly tried to pry off her fingers, but they were like steel. She started laughing. So that's where the insane, demonic laughter was coming from. Reyna and Bobby tried to pull her off me, but she shoved them away, keeping her eyes trained on me.

My mouth started drying in seconds and my eyes felt like the moisture was being vacuumed out. I began feeling dehydrated. Black dots started dancing around the corners of my vision. If you don't like my next actions, I'm sorry. I panicked. To put it bluntly, I decked Gwen on the side of the head with as much power my oxygen-deprived muscles could muster, successfully knocking her out cold.

"What the Pluto was that?" Bobby yelled, but I'm not sure if he was directing that at me or Gwen.

It took me a while to work up the saliva to respond and not croak pathetically. "She was choking me! And sucking the water out of me or something."

"But knocking her unconscious? What kind if conclusion is that?"

"That's how I solve almost everything!"

"Well, let's get out of here. I don't want to stay in this gods-forsaken house any longer than I have to." Reyna said darkly.

I gathered Gwen's wilted, unhealthily light body in my arms and walked out the door.

"Has she been eating at all?" I muttered. You could see her ribs. Not good.

Farther down the hall, I could hear the sounds of battle.

"Percy! Let's go!" Reyna hollered.

After a few seconds, Percy came sprinting down the hall, panting and wiping sweat off his brow. We briefly explained what happened in the stove-room, including the strangling. "All that happened in that short amount of time?" We nodded. "Wow."He continued on. "Do you see any exits?"

"Um… well, no, but there's a window." Bobby said awkwardly.

"You're telling me that there's an army behind us and all we have is a window?" Percy demanded.

"Yes."

"Come back here, sea scum!" Bellerophon howled, breaking into our conversation. He barreled into the hall, army at his heels. Horse-Psycho stopped short when he saw Gwen in my arms.

"You found her?" he gaped. "But that's nearly impossible!"

"I thought this house is like the Laybrinth. Don't you control how the halls move and where the doors lead?" I raised an eyebrow.

Bellerophon reddened. "Well, _I_ don't dictate it. I'm not high up enough in the chain of command to be authorized to do that. Kelli and the Titaness can. But you killed Kelli, and Anchiale fled somewhere to recover."

"Well, it was nice talking to you! We're just gonna be going now, so…" Percy started backing up slowly.

"Do you think we're going to let you slip through our fingers? This house was _meant_ for trapping you. We will fulfill our orders from Gaea." Bellerphoron sounded confident, but his eyes kept darting from Percy to Gwen.

"Oh, I that so?" I asked, putting two and two together. They were afraid of her. "Well, we could just wake up Gwen here and—"

"No! No, no, no. Don't do that. She'd kill us all, you fool!" Bellerphoron cut him off, panicked. Some of the army backed up, but most stayed, though nervous looking.

"I think it's okay. She wouldn't murder us. Not sure about you though…"

Bellerphoron laughed. "You think she has any control over herself? No, she would turn this house to rubble. And in the process, she'd wake up everything in this house. You wouldn't want that. You've seen only a fraction of this house, and just that has been an ordeal. Give in and you might be spared."

Finally, Percy spoke up. His voice was quiet, but full of anger. "You think we're going to give in? After you drove my little sister insane by doing who knows what? You can go back to Hades, where you belong."

Horse-Psycho sneered at him. "Five to hundreds? I wouldn't even consider doing that, for a second. I'll give you a second chance. Join our cause."

We looked defiantly at him. Bellerphoron pointed at us and said "Get them."

The monsters surged forward. I wasn't sure how I'd fight with an unconscious teen in my arms, but I'd find a way. The Bobby and Reyna raised their weapons for the fight. Percy didn't even bother getting out his sword. He just waved his hand and the humidity formed into an arc that sliced open the front row of monsters. Gwen stirred as if she could sense the power radiating off of her older brother.

Bellerphoron yelled at the monsters to retreat. "What are you doing?" he fumed. "You're going to wake her up!"

"You act as if she's a bomb."

"She's much worse than that!"

"Okay, you'll let us go or I'll do something much bigger than a little splash of water." That's some serious underrating right there.

Unexpectedly, Bellerphoron responded "Fine. Go. All there is out there is the backyard." His eyes glinted malice.

I wasn't getting the "_this is a good idea"_ vibes. No siree. But still, I would take the chance of fleeing over facing and army with only four able-bodied people. We cautiously and slowly backed up, and then dashed for the window at the end of the hall. Percy slid open the window and looked out. And there, three stories down, was where we would have to land. Oh, joy.

"I wish Jason was here. He could've flown us down." Reyna sighed regretfully.

"Well, he's not here." Percy muttered under his breath. Is that jealousy I hear? "There's some bushes over there, try to land in them." He said in a louder voice. "I'll go first and try and catch you. Or be knocked over and used as a pillow." Percy added as an afterthought.

He swung his legs over the ledge and jumped into the shrubbery, totally missed, and landed on his back. Percy stood up, brushed himself clean and called over to us "I meant to do that. As an example of what not to do. So, yeah. Don't do that."

He's lucky he has the Curse of Achilles. Reyna followed Percy and landed half in the bushes, half in Percy's arms. Bobby went afterwards, landing neatly in the undergrowth without needing any help. I tossed Gwen out the window (what? Do you expect me to glide her down?) and then sent a prayer to the gods not to let me die, and jumped. Bobby awkwardly sort-of caught me, but I still hit the ground pretty hard.

"Ow!" I yelped. "How come you guys can land neatly without dying, and I have to nearly break my bones to get down here?"

"Well, you didn't die." Percy pointed out. "And you didn't break any bones. Suck it up."

"Yeah, well you're freaking invincible! You can go around falling off cliffs and not die, so you can go shove it up your—"

Bobby clamped his hand over my mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed. I thought it was because of what I was about to say, but I realized, when I had been talking, everyone (besides Gwen) had started staring at something.

And that something was huge. As in as thick as a school bus and could probably wrap around the mansion. Maybe it hadn't noticed us…

And then it swung its head around and stared right at us.

**What is the monster? It's something interesting, I'll guarantee that! Ah, next chapter is going to be fun. And just a warning, I'm going to be updating slower because of school and Tiny Wings. **

**For those of you who hadn't read the Demigod Files, I shall explain Anchiale's father situation. Percy, Nico and Thalia went on a quest for Persephone to find a sword in the Underworld. Ethan (remember him?) had stolen the Sword of Hades under Kronos' order. Nakamura was about to escape the Underworld, but Iapetus the Titan, who he had been also sent to retrieve for the war, insisted on staying to fight Percy and co. I went badly for him. Percy dragged him into the River Lethe, erasing his memory, and then Percy told him his name was Bob, and now, Bob is Percy's good friend who plays on the shores of the River Styx, making castles out of bones.**


	20. You Decide

**PRIA**

For some reason, the vision of the Microsoft Word page came up again. What is with Apollo today? Why is he sending me all these weird visions?

_All right guys, calm down. This is not another selfish demand for reviews (you responded very kindly :D). Since some of you are mad at me for driving Gwen insane, I will give you an opportunity to make her happy. I want to put her together with someone, and I'd like to ask you guys. At first, I was thinking Nico, but I wasn't sure. Then I thought, maybe Leo, 'cause fire and water, you know. That would be cool. Plus, if you want someone to help you out of depression, Leo's you're man. I'm really indecisive, so I'm setting up a poll instead of deciding myself. I'm not irresponsibly shoving the weight on you. Psshhh… But seriously, vote! And I refuse to even _consider_ Jason. He has enough girl problems. And not Bobby. For several reasons that I will not reveal just yet, Gwen shall not be with him. And no way in Hades will I _ever_ put Gwen with Percy, you perverts! She's his little sister! Gross! But back on topic, if you want a new character to be with her (eh, that's not too favorable in my opinion) please comment and put details about the new character you'd like her to be with. And don't just create some awesome-super-powerful-to-the-point-it's-unfair person. Keep in mind I don't want to put in more people that much. There's already a huge flood of new Roman characters and I'm feeling overwhelmed with all the unfamiliar people. But if you really feel as if your person would be great in the story, please vote and review the details about your character. I'm going to keep posting up author's notes in this format so that it's not against the rules. And thanks to AKAAkira for the help with my summary, I don't think I could've written a better one. Is the poll even showing up on my author's wall/page/thing? Because I don't see it. Grrr... Well, that's it. Adios! _

_-Nomisaur_

What the heck is a Nomisaur?


	21. Chapter 20

**New about the poll: You can't just review who you want Gwen to be with. You have to vote. Normally, I would accept it if you did that and keep a tally of votes and reviews on a piece of paper or something, but the results sometimes update themselves late and your vote would be counted for twice, which isn't fair. The poll is up on my author page thingymajig. Just click on "Nomisaur" and you'll see it above my bio. Vote if you haven't already voted!**

**And to our story: Our dear friends are about to run into something giant. And another something giant. Oh, this is going to be fun! **

**To Black and White, no, no. No-no, no no. NO. NO NONONO! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Got it?**

**Chapter 20:**

**BOBBY**

Oh my _gods, _that thing is _huge._

"An Indus Worm." Reyna said as she sharply sucked in a breath.

If you don't already know; an Indus Worm is a worm. It used to live on the riverbanks of the Indus River in India, but when Olympus moved, I guess they did too. It was pale white and slimy. Its mouth hung open, showing the bits of food were suck in between its teeth. Well, food may not be the right word to describe it. Indus Worms pretty much ate everything that wouldn't eat it. Another weird thing about this worm; it was huge, as I said before. Normal Indus Worms were wide enough around for me to wrap my arms around it. This thing was as wide around as a school bus. Terra must've given this thing steroids or something. No wonder Bellerphoron let us outside. We would be easy, unsuspecting prey.

Its beady black eyes were nearly lost in its huge face. The Worm roared and snuffled around, occasionally snapping up some tasty tidbits. Thankfully, all mortal and mythical worms alike are blind. It didn't see us, but it wouldn't take long for it to smell us or hear us.

Percy moved to draw his sword, but I whispered as loud as I dared "Don't! Maybe we could go around it."

However, while I was concentrated on Idiot Number Uno, Idiot Number Dos slipped by.

Dakota unsheathed his sword as charged the Worm, yelling like a total Idiot Number Dos.

"You... you… _plennus ferox nimis stultum_!" Reyna sputtered, insulting Dakota in Latin.

Dakota, on the other hand, was practically giddy. The Worm had roared and stuck the ground where Dakota had been a few seconds ago with chilling accuracy. Idiot Number Dos rolled away swiftly, and then launched himself onto the side of the Worm, the monster being too big for him to jump right on top. Dakota started slipping on its slick, slimy sides, so he stabbed is sword into the Worm and used that to haul himself up on top of the monster. The Worm screamed in pain and writhed around, nearly knocking him off. Dakota laughed joyfully and stabbed and slashed at every inch of monster he could reach, but the thing was so huge it just made it really mad instead of doing much damage. Unable to shake him off, the Indus Worm rolled over, squashing Dakota underneath. Can worms even roll? This thing is gifted.

"The backyard is quite nice, isn't it? It has such a beautiful view, but I'd rather enjoy it from over here." Bellerphoron called, his head sticking out of the window, smirking nastily.

Reyna muttered some curses that Lupa would've banned her from the Academy for even uttering and angrily shot an arrow at Bellerphoron. If he hadn't jerked away so quickly, he would've taken an arrow to the face, something I wouldn't really mind too much. He swore loudly and backed up a safe distance but still observed us from the comfort of the house.

Reyna sighed and said "Just wasted a perfectly good arrow. I only have two left." She stopped to look at us expectantly. "Get going! I can watch over Gwen. Shouldn't you be helping Dakota?" she prompted when we just stood there, watching, fascinated, as the worm repeatedly rolled over Dakota.

"Hey, guys—" Rolled over. "could really—" Worm to the face. "use some—" Buried under blubbery monster. "help!" Dakota finally finished.

The pure ridiculousness of this situation almost incapacitated me with laughter from aiding him. That worm comes up with some weird but effective solutions.

"How the Hades does he manage to get himself in these situations?" Percy half-muttered, more-than-half-laughed.

"I have no idea," I sighed. There was this one time a Laistrygonian sat on him without realizing, another where he tried to blend in with a group of _dracaenae_ by putting on a wig and taping green swimming noodles on his legs (amazingly, it worked), and that one time… you get the point.

I started yelling at the monster, trying to distract it long enough for Dakota to escape pancakehood. The Indus Worm stopped rolling over and reared up and struck at me in seconds. In the corner of my eye, I saw Dakota scramble away, searching for his sword. ADHD and the instincts Academy training had drilled into me saved my life. I dove to the side, quickly leaping onto its head before it could raise it again. I winced as my chest slammed into the Worm, making the gashes Kelli had so kindly given to me ache. I raised my sword to stab its eyes out but the Worm started shaking its head side to side like a wet dog.

_Hmm… maybe jumping on it wasn't the smartest idea…_ I thought as I sailed over the yard, getting caught in the branches of a pine tree. A sharp branch stabbed through the back of my shirt, hanging me there like those movies where the nerd gets hung up on a flagpole or something unoriginal like that. After a moment or two, the limb gave way, sending me tumbling towards the ground.

I stood woozily, a little disoriented from the impact. I staggered over to my sword, which lay gleaming a few feet away, but I underestimated how unsteady I was. I fell over and had to crawl to my sword. Amazingly, my pack was still on my back, so I opened it and got some ambrosia that had been smashed to an extreme and nibbled on it. Feeling better, I stood up and realized I had no idea which direction the Worm was. Guessing from the sounds of defiant yelling from Percy and Dakota, it was to my left.

I burst through the line of shrubbery and viewed the grim situation. Percy and Dakota were trying to fight together, but they had no fighting experience with each other besides attackingeach other. Obviously, they were struggling to work together. Reyna was looking torn between helping them or staying to guard Gwen. Her bow had one of her last arrows nocked on it, but if I was Reyna, I would be hesitant to use it. The Worm was keeping my friends at bay by striking at them every time they moved towards it or whenever it felt like it. Things weren't going so good in other words.

Well… maybe if we…

"Guys!" I yelled. That got their attention a little too well. Idiot Number Uno and Dos turned around, thinking I was another threat. The Indus Worm snapped at Percy's leg. Thank the gods for his invulnerability. He yelped as the Worm took his leg in its mouth, tossed him up in the air, and opened its mouth as if it was going to devour him. Not if, actually. It would do that without a second thought. Percy grabbed the Worm's lower lip rather ungracefully and quickly tried to haul himself out but the Worm clamped its mouth around his midsection.

"Sorry!" I yelled apologetically. "Totally my fault! Uh… this might sound random, but can you get it to open its mouth?"

"Well, I was thinking of doing that already so that it won't freaking _eat me_!" Percy grouchily responded.

"So touchy." Dakota sighed, rolling his eyes.

Thankfully, Percy still had his bronze sword in hand and began hacking at the Worm's face, causing it to howl in pain, opening its mouth, just as I wanted.

"Reyna, shoot down its throat!" I hollered while she still had the opportunity.

She nodded and raised her bow with a look of pure concentration on her face and then smoothly released the arrow down the monster's throat, just skimming by Percy and directly down the dead center of its mouth. The Worm roared, spitting up blood, spattering Percy. At this point, he was nearly covered head to toe in it, but he still mercilessly slashed at the monster's face. Reyna automatically drew her last arrow with the smoothness of someone who had the skill and experience of years. The arrow soared through the air, but the Worm was smart enough to quickly shut its mouth and try to dodge it. Instead of slicing through the Worm's organs and ending its life, the arrow impaled itself in the monster's eye. It snarled but shook off the pain.

"Got any other ideas?" Percy asked while struggling with the Worm. Now it was solely concentrating on its feisty meal.

"Um… wait for it to bleed out and die?"

Bellerphoron smugly laughed while hiding like a coward in the house. "I wouldn't count on that." He cackled.

"Oh, screw it." Percy growled. He arched his back and shoved the Worm's other lip forward, making its mouth open just a little bit and threw his blade down the Indus Worm's throat. (I hope their stomach acids aren't strong enough to dissolve his sword.) Arrows aren't puny, but comparing an arrow down the throat to a sword down the throat… you get the point. Amazingly, Percy was quite skilled at this particular activity. The blade went straight down its esophagus and severed through tissues, organs, and veins. The monster didn't even cry out, it just disintegrated into nothingness, leaving Percy midair without anything to hold on to. He fell onto the ground with a loud thump and his sword clattered to the floor, completely unharmed.

Stunned silence.

"You… killed it?" Bellerphoron said in shock. He turned to his army that was stupidly standing there. "Well? GO GET THEM!" They started scrambling out the window, down the hall, presumably to find the stairs, everywhere as long as it led to us.

"Um…" Dakota said. "Should we—"

Reyna cut him off. "Run!"

Percy swept Gwen up in his arms, obviously not bothered by his fall, and we dashed over to the front yard, fleetly jumping fences and bushes, trying to get out of here as fast as possible. We sprinted down the long road that led to the evil house in the first place. Thanks to the Academy, every demigod that attended could run miles and miles on end (well, except for the Somnus cabin). Our feet pounded on the concrete, urged on by the guttural noises the monsters hunting us produced.

"Head back for Neah Bay and then we'll… do something." Percy said uncertainly eyes trained ahead of him, searching for any signs of the small town.

"Could you propel us through the water?" I asked, an idea suddenly popping up.

"Yes, but…" Percy hesitated. "I'm not sure what would happen with Gwen if I did that. Plus, I don't know how long I could keep that up. Drowning isn't very attractive after all that stuff we survived through in just that one house." He joked weakly at the end. "But I'll try. We don't have any other option, do we?"

Finally, we reached Neah Bay. I was slightly out of shape and my legs were cramping up after all those days we sat idly in a bus getting here. My muscles burned and each breath set my throat and lungs on fire. Thankfully, we began passing houses and buildings, encouraging me that we were in Neah Bay, meaning we were close to the sea. You could definitely feel it in the air, all the humidity and the salty smell.

I wonder how the mortals will react when they see all those monsters racing down the streets. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought it was some sort of parade. Ignorance is bliss… I would've faded off into daydreams of how being a mortal would be like, but something was bothering me. Yes, the Worm was difficult to kill, but a monster army would be more effective to capture us. So why did they let us go?

Percy cocked his head to one side, slowing down as if he was listening to something. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" questioned Reyna, obviously itching to get out of this town.

"What are you talking about?" Dakota asked, looking around for whatever might be making that noise. It was past midnight here and no one was up.

"Are you talking about the monsters?" I asked. If you listened closely, you could hear the snuffling, grunting, and the metallic sound of armor and weapons. Fortunately, we had the head start.

"No, it was like a voice…" At this point, Percy had completely stopped moving, carefully listening. Reyna tried to get him to start moving again, but he just waved her off. Suddenly, he broke out into a grin. "Come on, let's get going." Percy said in a slightly annoyed voice, as if it were _us_ slowing down.

"Where are we going?" Reyna tried to get some answers out of him, but Percy just responded "Never mind that, let's go!"

He guided us through the town, obviously intent on something. Percy finally stopped at the docks, peering in the water as if he was expecting someone.

"What are you waiting for?" Dakota complained. "You said it yourself; let's _go!_"

Percy irritably responded "Hold on for a second. Do you have any patien—"

He was cut off by a joyful "_Neigh!_" And a white, iridescent figure leapt out of the sea and gracefully landed back in without so much of a splash.

Percy laughed happily. "Rainbow!"

"I think I saw one of their tails on the boat ride to Neah Bay!" I exclaimed. But I had also seen a face in the water. Was it a friendly mermaid or something? Somehow, I doubted it was going to be as harmless as Ariel.

"Oh my gods, is that a hippocampi?" Reyna gasped at the same time. She was right, never mind how improbable that was. They were white stallions in the front and had muscular, white scaled tails replacing their back legs. "It's beautiful!" The horse-pony whinnied bashfully in response. "How did it know to find us here?"

"Well, I just asked my dad for some help…"

Ask your parent… for help? Our parents either didn't have the time, didn't want to be bothered, or thought we were being whiney if we asked them for anything. They only gave when they felt like it, and when they did, you have to be super-grateful or you'll offend them. Unless Percy's dad is different. Maybe Percy himself is different, just like Kelli said. Maybe my theory could be correct…

"That's… convenient." Reyna struggled to get out, snapping me out of my musings. I could see why she had a problem with that. How come this new guy (no offense to Percy) got free stuff from his immortal parent? We could've used that when we were fighting the Titans. I understand if they were busy fighting Typhon, but come on. They can be in multiple places at once. Couldn't they send a thunderbolt to stun Krios for a second so we could defeat him? Just a teensy zap?

Percy suddenly looked concerned. "Rainbow says there's other fish out there. Not the helpful kind my dad sent me."

"Look, if they're just fish, I think we can handle them. The monsters are getting close and we need to leave now!" Dakota impatiently said.

"Okay, hop on one of them." Percy didn't look as comfortable brushing pass Rainbow's warning as Dakota did, but got on the hippocampi. Three of Rainbow's friends presented themselves and we mounted. Percy shared a hippocampi with Gwen, making sure she didn't roll off the horse. I noticed how as soon as Gwen touched the water, a shudder passed through her frail frame. I winced as the salty water stung my shoulder wound and the cuts on my chest.

"Where are we going?" Reyna asked.

"Take us to Alaska." Percy told Rainbow and our steeds surged forward, right as Bellerphoron and his minions stampeded onto the dock. He gaped in wonder at the sight of the hippocampi. Once a horse fanatic, always a horse fanatic. The monsters moved to throw javelins and shoot arrows, but Bellerphoron held them back saying "You might harm the hippocampi! If you hurt them, you will DIE!" Hm… the hippocampi have more uses than one. But when I looked back, his eyes were glowing sinisterly.

"Can you make them go faster? Something's not right here." I asked Percy. He shook his head.

"If we want to make it to Alaska with a minimum amount of breaks, we're going to have to pace them." Percy responded, though he looked like he agreed with me.

I felt a tug at my pant leg. Thinking it was a playful hippocampi or one of my friends, I stupidly turned around and got punched in the face.

"Dakota, what the heck was that for?" I yelled, assuming it was my idiotic friend.

"What did I do?" his voice came somewhere ahead and to the left of me, definitely not a position to punch me in the face.

"Never mind." I muttered, scanning the horizon. A little gurgle came from the water directly in front of me. What the…?

"Guys." I said, trying to keep calm. "I think we're surrounded."

"What are you talking about?" Reyna asked.

Percy stared into the water. "No, he's right. They're underneath us, but yeah, we're surrounded." I guess being a son of _a sea god_, he could see into the depths.

"By what?" Reyna asked, automatically going for her bow, but placed it back on the hippocami when she remembered she had no more arrows.

"Well…" he hesitated, squinting into the water. "I can't see the exact details. I have a sort of heat vision in the water, so I can see all the heat and cold. Their shapes are strange. They have fish tails, but the other half is pretty much anything. Dog, ram, monkey…"

Everyone besides Percy had to do many monster identification classes in our time at the Academy, but I didn't remember and Dakota never paid any attention, so I had no clue what they were.

Of course, Reyna knew. "Ketea Idikoi. They're usually friendly."

"Not friendly enough to restrain themselves from punching me in the face." I muttered. I always get the bad luck.

One of the Ketea surface in front of us, spooking out the hippocampi. They whinnied and reared up, their front legs waving around.

This Ketea was half woman, but instead of hair, she had spines and her skin was pale, like she never saw the light of day. So that's the face I saw. Definitely not Ariel.

"We come under the command of Gaea." She whispered in a gurgle-y, wet-sounding voice. "Submit now if you wish to live."

"Why would we submit to some herbivore mermaids?" Dakota sneered. He knew they're herbivores? Maybe he did listen in class.

The Ketea hissed, her violet-blue eyes narrowing. "We are hungry, demigod. Humans have taken away most of our grazing land, and we are open to new foods." She left that threat hanging in the air and stared at us like we were a buffet. "We may lack in power, but we do not come alone. I will give you one more chance to submit or perish."

"Well, neither of those are appealing." Percy stated. "I think I'll give _you _two choices. Let us go or die. We have two children of Pos- Neptune and we're in the middle of the ocean. Hm… which one would I choose?" he wondered sarcastically.

The Ketea laughed. "If I'm not mistaken, one of them is insane. But you choose to be stubborn and fight for your lost cause. You will perish."

Percy urged Rainbow forward, brandishing his sword, but the Ketea submerged and popped up several feet to the left. "Very well, son of Poseidon." She narrowed her eyes distastefully. "There is Perseus, the hero that caused you so much pain. He's all yours."

"Who is she talking to?" Reyna asked, looking around.

She didn't have to wait long for her answer. A huge head as big as a car lifted itself out of the water and towered over us. It had a greenish tint to its splotchy, muddy brown. Seaweed and kelp hung off its jagged scales. It positively stank of rotting flesh and that nauseating fish smell and pretty much everything about that sea that reeked horribly. And right now, with its eyes as black as the bottom of the ocean, it was glaring at us with pure hate. Well, not _us_, more specifically, Percy.

Even Dakota knew what this monster was. "Keto." He stuttered as he looked up at it. That thing was huge, and so far, all it had shown us was its head. "The one that the original Perseus slew when he saved Andromeda."

I laughed shrilly and asked "But didn't he turn it to stone using Medusa's severed head? Anyone have a spare Medusa around?"

I thought I heard Percy mutter that she wasn't that hard to get, but he was probably saying something else.

The monster roared when he heard me say 'Medusa.' The thing probably had to have therapy to get through that… bad experience. Do monsters get therapy? They really could use a way to get all that anger out.

_Focus, Bobby. That's just your ADHD talking. Ignore it. Concentrate on the huge dragon trying to kill you._

_You're the one talking to yourself because of ADHD. So should I ignore you?_

_Ignore me? I _am_ you._

_Well, you're really annoying._

_You just insulted yourself._

_You get my point!_

While I was arguing away with myself, the dragon roared and reared up, boasting how huge it was, way bigger than the Indus Worm. No wonder Bellerphoron let us go when he had this in his arsenal. It opened its mouth, revealing the rows of wickedly sharp teeth and lunged for Percy, obviously intent on a meal. Man, these monsters really must like the taste of Percy.

Clearly, one sword wouldn't do much to it. Percy raised his arms up and a huge wall of water rose up to repel Keto. It crashed into it, backed up, shook its head side to side, flicking us with water and growled. Gwen shivered and the water that waves that rippled away from her were larger than they should be.

"Percy! How are we going to kill it without Gwen… destroying everything?" I yelled over the deep snarl from the dragon. It examined Percy with intelligent eyes, reconsidering its chances when its enemy had an irritating way to keep it at a distance.

"Uh… guys, can you keep the Ketea at bay while I try to kill Keto." He said unsurely. "Bobby, guard Gwen. Try not to drown!" he added unhelpfully at the end.

He got off Rainbow and propelled himself forward using current. The dragon's eyes glinted when it saw it did not have to lure its prey to itself. It lunged forward, but Percy shot to the side. However, the dragon was expecting that. It tail, which had been swishing around in the deep depths shot forward and hit him full on with so much force that Percy flew out of the water towards the dragon. Keto lunged forward to devour him, but Percy grabbed one of its teeth and used his momentum to swing on it like a monkey bar and do a backflip and land on the dragon's neck. At first he struggled to find a handhold, but soon he grabbed one of Keto's scales. If Keto ate Percy, the biting and things like that wouldn't harm him, but if he ended up in its belly, he would be completely encased in stomach acid, burning his whole body, including his mortal point, wherever that is.

Dakota yelled in the background, jolting me back to my current situation. The Ketea had swarmed around us. A half-leopard leapt out of the water, snarling. Dakota raised his sword and gored it through the neck and then lunged forward to evaporate the front row of monsters. I chopped off the tail of a half-baboon, killing it. The half-woman one that had spoken to us was wrestling with Reyna, trying to choke her to death. Reyna had to fight with only one hand because the hippocampi, the only thing that was keeping her from drowning, was skittish and trying to swim away. Reyna had to grab onto it like it was a lifesaver, which it is. I urged my steed forward and tried to slash off its head, but it dove under the water surface.

"Take me underwater to the Ketea." I murmured into the hippocampi's ear. It compliantly dove into the depths, guiding me to the darting figure of the half-woman. The salt stung my open eyes, but I shrugged it off. At first, it looked shocked that I would dare fight her in her own domain. I grinned wolfishly at that. Dakota had kind of rubbed off on me, him being very spontaneous and ignores all odds. The Ketea darted towards me, eyes narrowed. She came five feet in front of me before suddenly going under me, grabbed my foot and started dragging me down. I kick and the hippocampi reared, trying to swim towards the surface, but the half-woman was slowly dragging us down. My foot finally made contact with her face, stunning her just long enough to rent her from shoulder to hip. Black spots started dancing in my vision and my lungs burned for air. The hippocampi sensed my panic and quickly surfaced. I gasped for breath, glad for the blessing of sweet, sweet oxygen. Then I realized what my surroundings were.

It was hard to see in the murky ocean at night, but now I realized we were in the middle of Percy's and Keto's battle. They hadn't noticed me yet, but it would only be a matter of time before they did. Purple, sticky blood oozed off of the sea monster. Percy was nimbly scrambling around on Keto, finding a chink in the monster's armor and quickly stabbing it before it shook him off. Keto thrashed around, trying to devour Percy. It snarled and roared wildly, but Percy just wouldn't let go. However, there was no way Keto would bleed to death before it ate him. Percy needed some help, and fast. Reyna and Bobby were repelling the Ketea well. The Ketea aren't much of fighters. Now I understand their only purpose was to pen my friends there, keeping them from aiding Percy. I had escaped, and now I have to help him.

"Take me over to Percy." I murmured to the hippocampi. It whinnied as if saying "Are you serious? You're going to take on _Keto_?"

"Yes, yes, I know it's practically suicide, but that's not your problem." I muttered.

It hesitantly whisked me over to Keto dodging its thrashing tail and flashing fangs. The sea monster's tail flew towards us and I reached up and grabbed it as it swung by.

"Thanks for the ride!" I yelled to my helpful steed before trying to scramble onto a thicker part of its tail.

Keto turned around and looked straight at me. Well, now I have its attention. Slowly, its lip curled in disdain before shaking its tail side to side.

I desperately clamped onto its tail. Hm… now that I'm in this situation, I don't seem so heroic, do I?

"Bobby, what are you doing? I told you to stay with Gwen!" Percy yelled. I would've responded if it wasn't for the fact if I open my mouth, my tongue would be bitten off.

He tried to get Keto's attention to save me and began hacking at the serpent, even though most of it bounced off the monster's scales. Keto snarled (but more in annoyance, really) and snapped at Percy, giving me time to climb onto a part of the serpent that couldn't fling me far off into the sea and spatter at impact. Ah, good times. I cut off a couple of feet of tail for good measure. The serpent hissed wriggled around, but not in pain.

Keto began to rear up and point its head down.

Percy warned "Quick, grab onto one of its scale—"

And then we plunged under water, Keto furiously shooting downwards. I was almost knocked off by the impact of the water, so I had to scramble for a handhold. Percy grimaced and built an air bubble around me.

"Thanks," I gasped. Ugh, seaweed got in my shirt. Icky.

"Keto's moving too fast; it's pulling the bubble apart." He responded grimly, totally ruining my gratitude. The least he could do would be to say "You're welcome!" and not depressing, you-might-drown talk.

The deeper we went, the smaller the bubble became. Little air bubbles detached themselves from the whole and floated to the surface. I could feel the pressure building behind my ears.

"Come on, you're going to drown if we don't get off." Percy said, his voice strained with the effort of keeping me alive. "We're going to have to go up."

It took a second for that to register in my head. "Wait, what—" And then the little air bubble rocketed toward the surface. Well, at least I didn't have to hold on to Percy. That would've been awkward.

Keto saw us float away and sharply changed directions, charging at us with its mouth wide open to eat us, faster than the bubble could move.

I made an unintentional, very manly whimper and prayed to Pluto for mercy. Percy grunted and I heard a watery hiss/growl. I didn't die yet! Keto had encountered a water wall thingymajig Percy conjured. He used his water powers once more to heave the bubble to the surface. We exploded into the air, and then splashed back down. Percy was panting loudly from the effort of using his powers so many times in such a short amount of time. Okay, we were alive, but what about the others? I looked over at them. They were still on their hippocampi, but now most of the Ketea had been exterminated. They saw us and began swimming over.

And then Keto just had to ruin my rejoicing for life. The sea serpent shot completely out of the water, twisted its body and was directly over us, mouth open, and plummeting towards us, straight as an arrow. Oh. My. Gods.

Percy groaned and lifted a huge watery arc over our heads, and just as he completed it, Keto collided into it, skidding off it and slinking back into the sea to gather some time before retaliating.

"Too… much…" Percy wheezed. Apparently, someone agreed with us. It wasn't just Percy who thought it was too much. The others, who had been skimming over the water to meet us, were now ten feet away. And because of Percy's feats, something was about to happen.

Gwen woke up.

**Ooooh, dramatic! This is a really long chapter. Took me forever to write. How'd you like it? And what did you think of the Worm rolling over Dakota? In my defense, I had woken up super early for cross country, **_**ran**_** cross country and it was really late when I wrote that. I think I might've been half-delirious, and I didn't have the heart to edit it out. Did you recognize the tactic of killing the Indus Worm? Percy's done something like that before…**

**When Reyna yells at Dakota, she's saying "idiotic over aggressive fool!" I used Google Translate, so it's probably not accurate.**

**I mention Somnus in this chapter, so this is who he is; Somnus is the Roman god of sleep and rest, Roman counterpart of Hypnos. Clovis is a son of Hypnos (the dude Butch was shoving pencils up his nose while he slept). **


	22. Disappointing

**PRIA**

I was dreaming of the regular things for an Oracle. You know, panda beavcoons mauling people, Hogwarts and the occasional premonition that is actually true. Do you think that's strange? I don't want to ask anyone just in case they answer. And then the creepy Microsoft Word page keeps coming back.

_Okay, so I was hoping to finish this fanfic before The Son of Neptune came out on October 4, but that's obviously not going to happen. If there's some Harry Potter fanfics still going on, then I'm going to finish this fanfiction. Here's some weak excuses that will help pad your disappointment that may be hurled at me: I had a MAJOR writers block, school, fading motivation, ect., ect. But really, I am sorry that I'm not going to be able to get Chapter 21 out in time. My first draft really sucked, and so did my second draft, and right now, so is the third. Sigh…_

_Well, hopefully the releasing of the actual Son of Neptune will keep you occupied. I'll no doubt be starting a fanfic for the third book in the Heroes of the Olympus. But since my parents are cheap, I probably won't be able to get The Son of Neptune until very sometime way after it goes on sale. Maybe I have some Target gift cards somewhere…_

_So should I continue my storyline and have it loosely correspond with the plot of the actual series or completely start over (same character personalities) and start off where Rick Riordan left off? I could try to do both, but that would make updating really slow… but if I had the time, I would love to do that. I could still try to do that… What do you think? And vote on my poll for Gwen!_

Weird dream…


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